Indian equity benchmark indices ended with gains on Friday, led by IT and auto stocks. While the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 71,107, up by 242 points or 0.34%, the broader Nifty settled 94 points or 0.44% higher at 21,349.
The stock market pared weekly losses while ending its longest weekly winning streak in six years on profit booking at record high levels earlier in the week.
Both the NSE Nifty50 and BSE Sensex lost about 0.5% each this week, dragged by the fall in recent outperformers like financials and auto stocks.
The blue-chip indexes had gained 12.65% and 12.07% over the last seven weeks, aided by strong domestic macroeconomic data, a return of foreign inflows due to an improving US rate outlook and moderation in oil prices.
The IT sector hogged the limelight on Friday with the Nifty IT ending with gains of 2.3%. It was aptly supported by auto, pharma, metal and realty stocks, which negated the selling pressure in bank and financial stocks.
Top gainers & losers
Nifty breadth was skewed in favour of the gainers as 38 stocks ended in the green. The top gainer was Wipro which shot over 6%. It was followed by HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco Industries and Tata Motors. Among the top laggards were Grasim Industries, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank.
Barring banks, most sectors ended the session with gains. Volatility index India VIX settled at 13.71, lower by 0.36%.
Plenty of action was seen in the broader markets with Nifty Midcap 100 closing with gains of 370 points or 0.73%. In the 63 stocks that closed in the green, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Patanjali Foods and Laurus Labs moved the most on the upside. The top losers were Polycab and Aurobindo Pharma. The Nifty Smallcap 100 was up 1% at the time of closing bell. JB Chemicals was the top gainer with 9% uptick while IIFL was down 4%.
Expert Take
“The Nifty index displayed volatile movements on the last day of the week but managed to close above the crucial level of 21,300. The lower-end support for the index is positioned at 21,200, presenting a buying opportunity on any dips toward this level. Sustaining above 21,300 could pave the way for further upside momentum, targeting the 21,500 level,” said Kunal Shah, senior technical & derivative analyst at LKP Securities.As for the banking gauge, the Bank Nifty index faced selling pressure on the last day but managed to hold the key support level of 47,400, Shah said. If the index fails to sustain above this support, it could witness further decline toward the 47,100 levels, he opined.
“On the upside, the immediate resistance is at 47,700, and a breakout above this level may trigger short-covering, pushing the index higher toward 48,000/48,200 levels,” this analyst said.
Global Markets
UK’s FTSE 100 Index was trading with minor gains and was up 4.68 points at 7,699.41 while Germany’s Dax was down by 0.12%. France’s CAC 40 Index was flat at 7,569.89. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gave-up its morning gains to end at 33,169.10, up 28.58 or 0.09% while China’s Shanghai Composite settled 0.13% lower from Thursday’s closing. Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times Index closed with 0.90% gains, retaining the top spot among major Asian indices. South Korea’s Kospi also closed in the red.
Currency
The Indian rupee posted its biggest weekly loss in over two months, even as it closed stronger on Friday tracking a rise in its Asian peers and aided by dollar sales from large foreign banks, Reuters reported. It ended at 83.14 against the US dollar, compared to its previous close of 83.2775.
The rupee’s gains on Friday were aided by dollar sales from two large foreign banks, likely on behalf of custodian clients, a foreign exchange at a private bank told Reuters.
The dollar index (DXY) was trading at 101.69, down by $ 0.15 or 0.15%. Its 5-day declines have extended to 0.84% against the basket of six major currencies.
Commodities
Gold traded positive on MCX and Comex around 4 pm on Friday amid greenback’s slide. MCX Gold’s February contract was trading at Rs 62,875 per 10 gram, up by Rs 372 or 0.60%. On the Comex it shot up by over $15 and traded at $2,066.90.
Both Brent and US WTI were up 0.80% at $80 and $74.65, respectively, on the Comex. On the MCX, January futures were trading at Rs 6,211 per bbl, up by Rs 77 or 1.26%.
(With inputs from agencies)
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