Global indices gain up to 5% for the week, S&P 500 registers biggest weekly gain in 5 years

Global indices projected a mixed picture as the US markets along with the Asian markets recorded gains in the week gone by. But the Indian markets including the Sensex and the Nifty remained flat as the Sensex could only manage 0.01 percentage gain while the Nifty was down 0.03 percent.

This was largely aided by the fall in the benchmark indices on February 16, 2018 as the Sensex fell 286.71 points while the Nifty shed 93 points. Nifty and Sensex ended on flat note in the week ended February 16. It has been a volatile truncated week as the benchmark indices have been dancing to the tune of global equity indices.

India's volatility index slipped nearly 15 percent last week.

Asian markets reported positive close for the week with the Nikkei 225 gaining 1.19 percent at close on Friday while the Index closed 1.58 percent higher for the week. Hang Seng was up 1.97 percent on Friday and for the week it jumped 5.45 percent.

The Korean Index Kospi added 1.11 percent ending Friday while for the week the index gained 2.46 percent. The Nikkei VIX was down 1.89 or 7.45 percent.

Across the globe, the US markets provided a good performance with the Down Jones Industrial Average gaining 4.25 percent for the week gone by, its strongest weekly gain since November 2016. while the Nasdaq added 5.31 percent for the week, its best week since December 2011.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, yesterday rose 0.08 percent to end at 25,219.38 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.04 percent to 2,732.22 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.23 percent to 7,239.47.

The CBOE Volatility Index was up 1.73 percent ending February 16, 2018 at 19.46 while for the week the VIX was down 9.6.