Friday's Rally Lifts Sensex, Nifty To Fourth Consecutive Weekly Gains: Market Wrap

The benchmark equity indices recorded a fourth straight week of gains as they ended higher after a volatile trading session on Friday.

The NSE Nifty 50 ended 219.60 points or 0.89% higher at 24,768.30, and the BSE Sensex closed 843.16 points or 1.04% up at 82,133.12. During the day, both the Nifty and Sensex fell over 1% and also rose more than 1%.

The market looks forward to the US Federal Open Market Committee's decision next week. CME FedWatch Tool showed a 96.7% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in the December meeting.

Technically, after a short-term correction last Friday, the markets bounced back sharply, reclaiming not only the 50-day simple moving average at 24,400/80,200 but also succeeded in closing above it, which is largely positive, according to Amol Athawale, technical research analyst at Kotak Securities. "Additionally, it formed a promising reversal formation on daily charts, supporting a further uptrend from the current levels."

The Nifty opened with a slight gap down and faced intense selling pressure in the first hour, dropping nearly 360 points from the previous close, according to Ameya Ranadive, senior technical analyst at StoxBox. "However, it attracted modest buying interest near 24,180, leading to a remarkable V-shaped recovery of 600 points, which culminated in a strong finish in the upper quartile of the trading range."

Share prices of Bharti Airtel Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., ITC Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the gains in the Nifty.

Shriram Finance Ltd., Tata Steel Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd., IndusInd Bank Ltd., and Hindalco Industries Ltd. capped the upside.

The Nifty FMCG and Bank were the top gainers on Friday and Metal fell the most.

Broader indices underperformed as the BSE MidCap ended 0.1% lower and SmallCap fell 0.3%.

Six out of the 21 sectoral indices on the BSE ended lower, with Metal falling the most.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers as 2,151 stocks declined, 1,836 rose and 118 remained unchanged on the BSE.

On a weekly basis, the Nifty gained 0.4% and Sensex ended 0.5% up. The Nifty IT gained the most this week after it hit its lifetime high on Friday, while most sectoral indices fell.