Pulse of the Street: Earnings sentiment rescues volatile week; real test ahead

Indian equities ended a volatile week with modest gains as a sharp Friday rally on strong June-quarter earnings helped investors look past renewed West Asia tensions that pushed crude oil above $85 a barrel and the rupee to about Rs 96.3 per dollar. Sensex rose 0.75% and Nifty 50 gained 0.53% for the week, with the BSE IT index surging 3.83% on encouraging tech results even as broader gains stayed narrow and realty, metals and FMCG lagged. FIIs net sold about Rs 6,000 crore while DIIs bought over Rs 10,000 crore, absorbing selling pressure as a Mint analysis of 132 companies showed aggregate revenue up 19.7% year-on-year and net profit up 23.4%.