"Last week's rally was owing to expectations from the interim budget but as that failed to provide any good news, investors lost confidence," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief executive of New Delhi-based brokerage firm, SMC Group. "Overall, there is more rough weather ahead. The foreign investor's mood is also quite clear. They are not willing to commit big amounts to equity markets in developing countries," he added.

1. Sensex drops below 9000 on interim budget
Saturday 21st February, 2009 (IANS)
Mumbai (IANS): Bears ruled the roost this week at the Indian equities markets as an
insipid interim budget dashed the hopes of investors and global markets slipped further in
the red. A key index lost 8.22 per cent over its last weekly close.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended at
8,843.21 points, registering a 8.22 per cent or 791.53 points decrease from last Friday's
close of 9,634.74 points.
Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shut shop at
2,736.45 — a 7.18 per cent fall from last week's close.
Broader market indices like the BSE midcap index lost 221.23 points, 7.34 per cent lower
than its previous weekly close, while the BSE smallcap index was down 234.99 points or
6.92 per cent.
quot;Last week's rally was owing to expectations from the interim budget but as that failed to
provide any good news, investors lost confidence,quot; said Jagannadham Thunuguntla,
chief executive of New Delhi-based brokerage firm, SMC Group.
quot;Overall, there is more rough weather ahead. The foreign investor's mood is also quite
clear. They are not willing to commit big amounts to equity markets in developing
countries,quot; he added.
Markets started the week on a dismal note with the Sensex closing 3.42 per cent lower
than its previous close. The 30-scrip Sensex lost 329.29 points to close at 9,305.45 points.
At shutters, the Nifty was down 3.39 per cent and ended at 2,848.5 points.
Tuesday was another bearish day with the Sensex losing another 2.91 per cent or 270.45
points to close at 9,035 points. Similarly, the Nifty slipped to 2,770.5 points, 2.74 per cent
lower than its last close.
The Sensex slipped marginally Wednesday to close at 9,015.18 points, down 0.22 per cent
or 19.82 points from its previous close of 9,035 points. The Nifty acted similarly closing 0.2
per cent lower at 2,776.15 points.
The Sensex showed some resilience Thursday even as cues from global markets turned
negative. The 30 scrip BSE index shut shop at 9,042.63 points, 27.45 points or 0.3 per
cent up from its previous close. The Nifty too closed higher at 2,789.35 points, up 0.48 per
cent from its last close.

2. The week's end though was far from encouraging with Sensex dipping below the
psychologically important 9,000-mark Friday to close at 8,843.21 points, a decrease of
2.21 per cent or 199.42 points. At close, the broader-based S&P CNX Nifty was at 2,736.45
points, 1.9 per cent down from its previous close.
The top gainers this week on the Sensex were ITC (up 0.5 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki (up
0.1 per cent).
Among the top losers on the Sensex were ICICI bank (down 22.7 per cent), Reliance
Capital (down 14.4 per cent), Reliance Industries (down 14 per cent), Hindalco (down 14
per cent) and Tata Steel (down 13.4 per cent).
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) made net buys of $372.7 million this week compared
to sale of $120.4 million worth of shares.