Sensex, Nifty Log Best Week In Over A Month Aided By Reliance, I.T. Stocks

India’s equity benchmarks logged the best week since the week ended September 3, aided by gains in energy, PSU banks and information technology stocks ahead of the start of the September quarter earnings season.

Earlier in the day, RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee kept interest rates unchanged for the eighth consecutive meeting. The central bank’s rate setting committee kept the stance accommodative and assured to maintain the stance ‘as long as necessary’ to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. Focus shifts to U.S. payrolls report scheduled to be released later today, as investors look to assess the possible timeline of tapering of stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The S&P BSE Sensex index rose 0.64% to 60,059.06. This is the first time since September 27 that the 30-stock index closed above 60,000 mark. The NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by similar magnitude to 17,895.20. The 50-stock gauge hit an intraday high of 17,941.85, and reached within touching distance of the record 17,947.65. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 3.8%. Today, 23 of 50 shares rose, while 27 fell.

The S&P BSE MidCap underperformed its broader peers, adding 0.16% while S&P BSE SmallCap outperformed with gains of nearly 1%. Twelve of the 19 sectoral indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, with the S&P BSE Energy index rising over 2.6% and S&P BSE Information Technology index gaining nearly 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,870 stocks advanced, 1,431 declined and 152 remained unchanged.

"RBI policy meeting outcome was quite balanced; and it continued to sound dovish despite announcing measure of absorb excess liquidity through VRRR auctions. Further, expectations of CPI inflation and economic growth look reasonable, and market continued to cheer RBI policy meet outcome", Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities wrote in a note and added "India’s sovereign rating upgrade by Moody’s Investors Services in the backdrop of persistent improvement in key economic indicators and faster ramp-up in vaccination bodes well and may aid India to remain resilient compared to global equities. Further, steady rise in disbursal of banks and NBFCs in 2QFY22 (as shown in their provisional numbers reported to exchanges) vindicates growth momentum of the economy. In our view, festive demand, recovery in rural demand, COVID-19 positivity rates, vaccination ramp-up and September quarter earnings will be in focus in the near term."

Indian bourses rally after capital market and electricity sector regulators agree to resolve jurisdiction issues to allow deepening of the country’s power market, paving way for longer-duration contract offerings.

• Power regulator CERC agreed to regulate all the physical delivery-based forward contracts whereas the financial derivatives will be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, according to a statement issued Thursday

• Resolution of these issues allows introduction of longer duration delivery-based contracts in the power exchanges, which are currently restricted to allow such contracts for maximum of 11 days due to the pending legal matter, power ministry says in a statement

Shares of Chambal Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. rose over 19% in intraday trade to Rs 448 apiece. Trading volume was quadruple the 20-day average volume, for this time of the day.

• The relative strength index on the stock was above 70, indicating it may be overbought.

• Chambal Fertilizers trades at 11 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have four ‘buy’, no ‘hold’ and no ‘sell’ recommendations on the stock. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 4%.

• Shares of Chambal Fertilizers have risen nearly 30% over the last two sessions after the National Stock Exchange announced inclusion of these stocks in Futures & Options segment from October 29.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. unveiled a cashback offer on over 150 budget smartphones from leading brands ahead of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. introducing its Google co-engineered budget handset before Diwali in November.

To avail the Rs 6,000 ($80) cashback on smartphones priced as much as Rs 12,000, a customer will need to buy a so-called prepaid mobile services pack of Rs 249 or above continuously for 36 months, India’s No.2 wireless phone operator said in a statement Friday. The customer will receive the cashback in two parts - Rs 2,000 after 18 months and Rs 4,000after 36 months.

Mukesh Ambani’s technology services company Jio Platforms Ltd. said last month it and Google have made considerable progress toward launching a budget smartphone - JioPhone Next -- and are actively working to make it available in time for the Diwali festive season. Both have indicated plans to achieve a breakthrough price for the proposed smartphone.

The cashback offer is expected to intensify competition in a market that was disrupted by Reliance Jio’s entry in 2016 with free calls and cheap data leaving many incumbents to exit, merge or file for bankruptcy.

Airtel said if a customer opts for a device priced at Rs 6,000, they can get back their entire investment.