Weekly market wrap: Q2 numbers bring cheer to investors ahead of Diwali

The market remained upbeat throughout the week and investors continued to hunt for fundamentally strong stocks as positive cues kept coming from stellar results posted by companies, such as ITC, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, and HDFC bank, among others. Market participants also took support after the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monthly bulletin stated that India is poised to consolidate and accelerate the economic recovery over the rest of the year and the fight against inflation will be 'dogged and prolonged'.

Market veteran Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: "Despite global weaknesses, domestic sentiment is positive ahead of Diwali and the market showed its resilience, supported by a good start to the earnings season. The benchmark indices have been rising for the last six sessions, aided by stock-specific momentum in IT, banks, and FMCG. The rise in credit growth to a 10 year high of 17.94 per cent YoY as of October added colour to the bank nifty with a gain of 3.8 per cent, while PSU banks gained by 11 per cent during the week."

"Some profit booking was also seen towards the end of the week as domestic investors maintained their cautious stance ahead of the truncated week. On the global front, a rise in UK inflation to a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent in September added to fears of more aggressive monetary policy by the central bank. As there are no major triggers for the next week, the market direction will be based on global sentiment and the earnings season," he added.

As many as 38 stocks in the Nifty 50 index delivered a positive return to investors in the passing week. With a gain of (12.5 per cent), Axis Bank emerged as the top gainer in the index. It was followed by Nestle India (up 7.2 per cent), State Bank of India (up 6.4 per cent), SBI Life Insurance Company (up 5.6 per cent), and ICICI Bank (up 4.3 per cent).

Reliance Industries Limited, Bharti Airtel, and ITC also advanced by over 4 per cent. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, and JSW Steel declined 3.3 per cent, 2.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively.

Sector-wise, the BSE Bankex index gained 4.2 per cent during the week gone by. BSE Oil & Gas index has also given 3.1 per cent return. While BSE Power, BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods and BSE Carbonex indices also surged more than 2 per cent. In contrast, the BSE Metal index has declined by 1.0 per cent.

Market watcher Subash Gangadharan, Senior Technical and Derivative Analyst at HDFC Securities, said: "Technically, while the Nifty has moved up further after bouncing back from supports last week, the index is trading near strong resistances and needs to clear them to move higher. Upside momentum will pick up if the Nifty can cross the immediate resistance of 17670. The crucial supports to watch for resumption of weakness are at 17520-17421".