The week ended May 18, was extremely volatile. Had it not been for a terrible Wednesday the week would have ended in positive territory. Friday was another volatile day and impressive and unexpected results from banking major State Bank of India changed the mood and turned around the markets completely. The BSE SENSEX made a low of 15,809 and closed at 16,152.75. The weekly loss was 140.23 points or 0.86 per cent. The low on NSE NIFTY was 4,788.95 points. The weekly loss was 37.45 points or 0.76 per cent. The broader indices like the BSE 100, BSE 200 and BSE 500 lost 0.78 per cent, 0.87 per cent and 0.94 per cent, respectively. The BSE MIDCAP lost 1.41 per cent while the BSE SMALLCAP lost 2.19 per cent, indicating a substantial across the board fall. The sectoral gainers included BSE FMCG up 1.72 per cent and BSE IT up 0.55 per cent. The losers included BSE AUTO down 5.6 per cent, BSE PSU down 1.04 per cent and BSE CAPGOODS down 1.03 per cent. In individual stocks, Sesa Goa was up 7.85 per cent, IRB Infra was up 7.46 per cent, Sterlite up 6.35 per cent, SBI up 4.86 per cent and ITC up 2.31 per cent. The big losers included Tata Motors down 12.54 per cent, BHEL down 8.93 per cent, REC down 6.95 per cent and Axis Bank down 5.19 per cent.

Gloom room: Seoul, republic of Korea: Currency dealers monitor exchange rates in a dealing room at the Korea Exchange Bank in Seoul. Asian markets slumped and the Euro fell further on May 18 as the Eurozone debt crisis was stoked by a ratings downgrade for Greece and 16 Spanish banks, while weak US data added to the pessimism. Pic/AFP