Sensex, Nifty Surge Over 2% from Day’s Low: Auto, Bank, FMCG Lead Gains

In a highly volatile trading session on Friday, the Indian stock market showed a strong recovery from earlier losses, driven by gains in key sectors such as automobiles, banking, telecom, and FMCG. The BSE Sensex and Nifty50 indices rebounded more than 2 per cent from their intraday lows, closing the day on a positive note, aided by favorable domestic economic indicators.

By the end of the trading day, the BSE Sensex rose by 843.16 points, or 1.04 per cent, closing at 82,133.12. Similarly, the Nifty50 gained 219.60 points, or 0.89 per cent, ending at 24,768.30. This uptick followed the easing of retail inflation and the announcement of a robust industrial growth figure of 3.5 per cent in October, marking the highest growth in three months.

The Indian market began the day on a negative note, influenced by weak global cues that pulled the indices lower. The Nifty index even dipped below the 24,200 mark during the first half of the session.

However, the second half saw a sharp recovery, fueled by buying activity in heavyweight stocks across various sectors. This helped the indices claw back from their lows, ending the session in the green.

Among the sectors, automobiles, banking, FMCG, and telecom stocks saw gains ranging from 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent. In contrast, the realty, metals, and media sectors struggled, each shedding about 0.5 per cent. A significant number of stocks reached their 52-week highs during the session, including names such as KPR Mills, CRISIL, Page Industries, Indian Hotels, Swan Energy, HCL Technologies, Dixon Technologies, Max Healthcare, Infosys, LTIMindtree, and EID Parry.

Looking at the weekly performance, the BSE Sensex gained 0.7 per cent, while the Nifty50 advanced by 0.4 per cent. Among the top performers on the Nifty, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ITC, UltraTech Cement, and Hindustan Unilever saw significant gains. On the flip side, stocks like Shriram Finance, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Hindalco, and JSW Steel faced losses.

Midcap and Smallcap indices ended flat, with limited movement in these segments.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, noted that the Nifty found strong support around the neckline of the inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, which led to the subsequent rally. He anticipates that the positive momentum could continue, with a potential target of 25,000 in the short term. However, support is expected to be at 24,550 in the near term.

Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President of Research at Religare Broking, also observed that the Nifty's strong close near its day’s high suggests that the market could continue its upward trajectory.

He recommended a positive outlook for the IT and banking sectors and advised traders to focus on selective stock picks. Mishra also emphasized the importance of risk management to handle the ongoing volatility effectively.