Stock market today: The domestic market ended with gains for the week ended Friday, February 16, as investors shift their focus to fundamentals and macroeconomic indicators while hopes persist that the US Fed will start cutting rates from June this year.
The anticipation of rate cuts has been a significant driver for the market for the last few months. While US inflation remains above the Fed's 2 per cent target, the economy is showing signs of some cooling, according to the latest data.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, US retail sales fell 0.8 per cent in January from December—much worse than expectations for a 0.3 per cent decline. Also, Federal Reserve data showed January industrial production edging down 0.1 per cent compared with expectations for a 0.2 per cent increase.
Fresh US macro data has fuelled hopes that the Fed may go for rate cuts soon.
“Bets for a rate cut of at least 25 basis points in May edged up to 40 per cent, while the odds for June stood at roughly 79 per cent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool,” reported Reuters.
On Friday, equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty closed with decent gains amid positive global cues.
Nifty 50 closed at 22,040.70, up 130 points, or 0.59 per cent while the Sensex closed with a gain of 376 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 72,426.64. With this, the market benchmarks extended their gains into the fourth consecutive session.
Mid and smallcap indices outperformed the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap index rose 0.78 per cent while the Smallcap index clocked a gain of 0.68 per cent.
The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE rose to nearly ₹389.5 lakh crore from nearly ₹387.3 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by about ₹2.2 lakh crore in a single session.
All sectoral indices, except for Nifty Oil & Gas (down 0.61 per cent) and PSU Bank (down 0.36 per cent), closed higher.
Nifty Auto jumped 2.21 per cent to close as the top sectoral gainer. Nifty Pharma (up 1.63 per cent), Realty (up 1.53 per cent) and IT (up 1.26 per cent) clocked significant gains.
Nifty Bank rose 0.36 per cent.
The Nifty 50 and the Sensex closed over a per cent higher this week while the BSE Midcap index closed almost a per cent higher. The BSE Smallcap index underperformed and closed flat for this week.
Stocks such as Wipro, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), SBI, Bajaj Auto and Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, closed among the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index this week.
On the other hand, shares of Hindalco Industries, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Steel declined on the weekly scale.
"The Indian market continued its broad-based recovery, aided by positive global cues. Further, narrowing India’s trade deficit, led by softening commodity prices and a manufacturing push by the government, attracted investors to capital goods, metals, and industrial stocks. On the global front, an expectation of a pickup in consumption demand in China after the New Year holidays supported the global market sentiment," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking suggests maintaining a positive yet cautious stance as Nifty 50 is set to retest its record high.
"We need sustainability above 22,150 to end the consolidation and march towards the 22,500+ zone else profit taking may resume. Traders should keep a close watch on the banking index for cues while others may continue to play a supportive role on a rotational basis. Besides, the performance of the global indices, especially the US, will remain on their radar," said Mishra.
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