Saturday, August 13 2005 12:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Trapped in a correction mode, the Sensex experienced ups and downs ending the week up by a meagre 0.17 per cent even as it scaled new peaks while flaring oil prices and negative Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) activity compelled local players to be cautious.

In the week ending August 13, the benchmark created yet fresh records by touching all-time intra-trade highs of 7861.26 on August 12.

The Sensex had also set a new closing peak of 7816.51 on August 11 before ending the week at 7767.49 against last weekend's close of 7754.00, a net gain of 13.49 points.

Close to the week at 4164.45 from last weekend's close of 4163.03.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted steady at 1006.10 and 384.15 at the weekend compared to previous weekend's close of 1005.47 and 384.83 respectively.

The BSE-500 Index improved further by 16.07 points to finish the week at 3231.01 from previous weekend's close of 3214.94 and the Dollex-30 ended the week fractionally down at 1462.64 from 1463.46 at the last weekend.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P, CNX Nifty held steady at 2361.55 at the weekend from last weekend's close of 2361.20 while the S&P CNX Defty eased by 3.15 points to close the week at 1877.20 from 1880.35.

The CNX Nifty Junior moved up by 4.95 points to conclude the week at 5085.70 from 5080.75 at the preceding weekend.

Business on the BSE and NSE remained fairly high

During the week, the volume of business on the BSE and the NSE remained fairly high at Rs 18,440 crore and Rs 36,046 crore respectively.

Refinery stocks bore the brunt of selling pressure. As a result, the BSE Oil & Gas Index dropped by 93.01 points to end the week at 3553.96 from previous weekend's close of 3646.97.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), ITC, Bajaj Auto, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), HDFC Bank, Infosys Tech, Maruti Udyog, Reliance Energies Limited (REL) and Tata Motors were among major losers.

However, Grasim, Bharti Tele-Venture, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), HDFC, Hindalco, ICICIBank, Tata Steel and Ranbaxy Lab scored sharp gains.

The BSE Metal Index firmed up by 219.56 points to end the week at 6391.77 from 6172.21 at the last weekend.

Among other indices, the broad-based BSE-100 Index edged up by 1.42 points to close the week at 4164.45 from last weekend's close of 4163.03.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted steady at 1006.10 and 384.15 at the weekend compared to previous weekend's close of 1005.47 and 384.83 respectively.

The BSE-500 Index improved further by 16.07 points to fish Mir . On the nuclear and conventional Confidance Building Measures (CBMs) too India and Pakistan have achieved substantial progress by reaching on an agreement on pre-notification of missile tests as well as a slew of CBMs on the conventional fronts to improve the ties between the armed forces of the two countries.

On Siachen, India called for making it a peace mountain, while the two sides jointly conducted a survey of the boundary pillars of the Sir Creek.

There was also progress in the key issue of trade with Pakistan opening up the Wagah border for various Indian goods specially to bring down prices in domestic markets.