TOP MOVERS

The BSE Sensex shed 2.4 per cent while the NSE Nifty shed 2.3 per cent during the week. The broader market BSE 500 was down 2 per cent through the week with inflation for March remaining unchanged from February at 8.82 per cent.

Four of the top ten gainers of the BSE 200 for the week-ended April 30, were from the pharma segment. The news of a tie-up with Abbott Labs, Laboratories Fournier helped clear the air over patents relating to a cholesterol drug and led Lupin to gain 6.7 per cent through the week. Medical devices maker Opto Circuits gained 3.4 per cent on news of a deal to supply defibrillators to Europe. Other major gainers in the pharma segment included GlaxoSmithline Pharma, Piramal Healthcare and Sun Pharma which gained 7.2, 4.6 and 4.3 per cent respectively,

The stock of the steel behemoth SAIL came under selling pressure, shedding 7.2 per cent through the week as the company's margins were crimped by input cost pressures. The broader BSE Metals index shed 2.8 per cent. Hindustan Zinc and Jindal Steel and Power were two other major players whose stocks were down six per cent each, despite a decent set of quarterly number.

Input cost pressure and pricing power remain dominant concerns in the ferrous metals space, with NMDC, Sesa Goa and JSW Steel shedding around 2.5 per cent each through the week.

Realty majors bore the brunt, four of which were part of the top ten losers of the BSE 200. Expectations of a hike in interest rates by the RBI, leading to higher borrowing costs, saw the market punish constituents of the BSE Realty index, which shed 8.4 per cent through the week. HDIL, Unitech and DLF shed between 10 per cent and 13 per cent each.

Concerns over rising interest rates and shrinking net interest margins hurt the BSE Bankex index, which shed 3.5 per cent. The biggest loser in the segment was Axis Bank which shed 11.3 per cent. Bank of Baroda and Kotak Mahindra Bank shed 6.8 and 6.4 per cent each.

Among other notable companies whose stock prices came under pressure was Reliance Industries which shed 5.6 per cent on the back of concerns over falling output at KG-D6 block. A weak order book and soaring commodity prices also resulted in the poor Q4 performance of engineering major Crompton and Greaves whose stock was down 10.3 per cent through the week. A rather staid showing by mid-cap IT firm Patni Computers , whose fourth quarter profits were down 33 per cent, saw its stock trade 11 per cent lower by the end of the week.

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