Indian stock markets ended moderately higher today, registering their second straight weekly gain. The Nifty index opened with an uptick but profit-taking trimmed gains as the day progressed. The NSE Nifty 50 index advanced 0.28% to 17,786.80 at close, and the S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.34% higher to 59,959.85, with both indices posting over 1% gain each. But broader markets struggled for traction today. The Indian rupee also posted a weekly rise on bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will pivot to smaller-sized rate hikes from December.
Carmaker Maruti Suzuki and conglomerate Reliance Industries were the top boosts to the benchmark indexes today, climbing nearly 5% and 3%, respectively. Maruti Suzuki beat estimates with a more than four-fold jump in quarterly profit, as it benefited from record sales volume.
“Nifty moved above the high-low range of the previous three sessions and closed at the highest in more than 5 weeks. Sectoral rotation is keeping the Nifty afloat in volatile times. On a weekly basis, Nifty gained 1.20% building on the gains of the previous week. Nifty could now head towards 17838-17919 band while 17568-17637 band could offer support,” Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by 75 basis-point at its policy meeting on Nov. 1-2. For December, traders are largely expecting a 50 basis point increase.
But the expectation that the central banks would slow down the pace of rate hikes from the beginning of CY23 gave comfort to the global markets. "As a result, bond yields across the globe softened, with the US 10yr yield diving below 4%. The strengthening rupee, along with a softening treasury yield and decent Q2 earnings results, will support the domestic market in the near term," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Analysts are hopeful that Nifty could head to 18,000-plus levels over the next few sessions.
“India VIX continued to cool off down 4% and now below 16 levels. Broader market however witnessed profit booking as were down 0.5%-1.0%. Banking stocks too witnessed some profit-booking after RBI called for an additional meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee on 3rd November. Auto stocks were among the major gainers after Maruti reports strong results and ahead of monthly sales data to be released next week for October which would include numbers for the Diwali festival,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.
“Nifty has been consolidating around the 17800 zone for last 4 trading sessions after witnessing a sharp upmove of more than 800 points in 8 sessions. Strong traction in ongoing domestic earnings, FIIs turning buyers and positive domestic cues can lead the Nifty to reach 18000/18200 levels over the next few days.”
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