Fifth Straight Weekly Gain For Nifty, Sensex; Nifty Bank Above 30,000

Indian equity markets witnessed a surge in the final minutes of trade to register yet another record high and end the truncated week with healthy gains.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 1% higher at 45,079 while the NSE Nifty 50 too gained 1% to end at 13,258.

Today's closing means both Sensex and Nifty have closed higher for the fifth straight week, their longest run of weekly gains since July this year.

Today's session belonged to banking stocks. The Nifty Bank gained 300 points in the final hour of trade. The index crossed the mark of 30,000 to end 600 points higher at 30,052. The index is now 130 points away from its February high of 30,187.

The PSU Bank index, which was a laggard for most part of the trading day, ended with gains of 1.5%.

Other sectoral indices which did well in today's session were the Nifty FMCG index, which gained 1.4%, along with Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty, which saw gains of over 1% each.

Broader markets were subdued in today's session. Both Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap underperformed the benchmarks, ending with gains of 0.3% each.

The India Volatility Index fell to its lowest since February this year, ending 5.3% lower at 17.98.

1,085 stocks on the NSE ended with gains while 811 reported losses.

• Top gainer on the Nifty Smallcap index
• Gains as much as 13.3% to Rs 91.9
• Trading at the highest level since February this year
• Up for the sixth straight day
• Longest winning streak since April this year
• Up 27% in the last six trading sessions
• Today's volumes are more than triple its 20-day average
• Stock in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 87
• Seven out of the nine analysts tracking the stock have a buy recommendation; 1 hold & 1 sell
• The stock trades 14% higher than its 12-month Bloomberg Consensus price target of Rs 76.4

• Benchmark indices hold on to gains
• Nifty up 0.7% at 13,220
• Sensex up 0.7% at 44,939
• Nifty Bank up 1.1% at 29,756
• Nifty Midcap index unchanged
• Nifty Smallcap index unchanged
• India Volatility Index down 3.3% to 18.4
• Most sectoral indices give up gains
• Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG index up 0.8% each
• Nifty Media and Nifty Auto index up 0.7% each
• Hindalco remains the top Nifty gainer; up 4.7%
• 40 out of the 50 Nifty constituents gain
• Reliance Industries is the top Nifty laggard; down 0.9%
• 1,039 stocks on the NSE trade with gains while 780 decline

• Top gainer on the Nifty Midcap index
• Gains as much as 10.2% to Rs 1,519
• Biggest single-day gain in 10 months
• Trading at the highest level since June
• Up for the second straight day
• Today's volumes are more than six times its 20-Day average
• Stock in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 80
• All three analysts tracking the stock have a buy recommendation
• Return potential of the stock as per Bloomberg data is 9.2%

• Top gainer on the Nifty 50 index
• Gains as much as 5.76% to Rs 255.95
• Trading at the highest level in over two years
• Up for the fourth straight day
• Longest winning streak in three months
• Has gained over 12% in the last four trading sessions
• Stock in overbought territory with Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 81
• Today's volumes are more than double its 20-day average
• All 24 analysts tracking the stock have a buy recommendation
• Return potential of the stock as per Bloomberg consensus data is 4.1%

• Benchmark indices hold gains as RBI Governor announces MPC decisions
• Nifty up 0.63% at 13,217
• Sensex up 0.64% at 44,914
• Nifty Bank up 0.8% at 29,691
• Nifty Midcap index up 0.6%
• Nifty Smallcap index up 0.55%
• India Volatility Index down 3.5% to 18.3
• Nifty Metal is the top sectoral gainer; up 2%
• Nifty Media is the other major sectoral gainer; up 1.5%
• Nifty Auto index gains 1% whle the Nifty FMCG index gains 0.6%
• UltraTech Cement is the top Nifty gainer; up 5.3% and at a record high
• 41 out of the 50 Nifty constituents are advancing
• Dr Reddy's Laboratories is the top Nifty laggard; down 1%
• 1,215 stocks on the NSE are trading with gains while 544 are declining
• The currency is holding on to early gains, currently trading at 73.8 against the U.S. Dollar as compared to Thursday's close of 73.93.

RBI Governor Says:

• MPC voted to keep key interest rate unchanged at 4%
• Reverse Repo rate unchanged
• Inflation likely to remain elevated
• Monetary policy constrained at the current juncture
• Recovery signs are far from broad-based
• MPC will monitor all threats to price stability
• FY21 GDP seen contracting 7.5% from earlier projection of 9.5% contraction
• See inflation at 6.8% during the third quarter
• Corporate results show demand conditions improving
• Banks will retain profit earned in FY20; no dividend pay

Cement maker UltraTech Cement announced that it will increase its capacity by 12.8 MTPA with an investment of Rs 5,477 crore on Thursday.

The additional capacity will be created in east, central and north India.

Here's what brokerages are making of this decision:

• Nomura: Domestic cement capacity to increase by ~18%. Expansion to boost presence in east and central India. Buy rating maintained with a price target of Rs 6,100.
• Jefferies: Estimate 3% realisation CAGR and 6% volume CAGR over FY20-23 in our base case. Resultant Operating Ebitda will grow 10% annually over FY20-23E. Buy rating maintained with a price target of Rs 5,600
• Motilal Oswal: Expansion implies incremental RoCE of 14%. Expansion provides strong volume growth visibility. Buy rating maintained with a price target of Rs 5,760.
• Emkay: Capacity expansion to help future growth. Remains top pick in the largecap cement space. Buy rating maintained with an increased price target of Rs 5,930 from Rs 5,533.

Shares of UltraTech gained as much as 4.7% to Rs 5,124. The stock is trading at a record high. Out of the 45 analysts that track the stock, 41 have a 'buy' recommendation, three say 'hold' while one has a 'sell' rating. Based on the 12-month consensus Bloomberg data, the stock has a return potential of 6.4%.

• India adds 36,595 new cases in the last 24 hours
• Total confirmed cases now at 95,71,559
• Active cases at 4,16,082
• Patients cured / discharged / migrated at 90,16,289
• Death toll rises to 1,39,188
• 540 deaths reported in the last 24 hours
• 42,916 patients recovered in the last 24 hours

Indian equity markets opened higher during the final trading day of this truncated week. Benchmark indices are poised to post their fifth straight weekly advance.

The S&P BSE Sensex opened 50 points higher at 44,665 while the NSE Nifty 50 index gained 0.5% at the start of trade to open at 13,177. As of closing on Thursday, both Sensex and Nifty were up over 1% for the week.

Among sectoral indices, the PSU Bank index continued its advance from Thursday's session, opening with gains of 0.8%.

The Nifty Media index opened with gains of 1% while Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG index gained 0.4% each.

Broader markets have opened in tandem with the benchmarks. The Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices have gained 0.5% each at the start of trade.

1,242 stocks on the NSE have opened with gains while 314 are declining.

Good Morning!

Indian equity markets are poised to post their fifth straight weekly gain—their longest such winning streak since July this year.

So fat this week, the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 have gained more than 1%.

Futures are again pointing towards gains at the start of the final trading day of the truncated week. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.3% to 13,242 as of 7:55 a.m. on Friday.

Many sectoral indices are trading at multi-month or multi-year highs. The mid-cap index is at its highest since April 2018, while the Nifty Auto index is at the highest since December 2018. The small cap and the Nifty Metal indices are at their highest since April 2019.

Asian markets are mixed this morning as the rally in global equities consolidates near a record high. Benchmark indices in Japan and China are declining, while those in South Korea are retreating.

Futures on the Dow Jones are trading with gains of 40 points, off the session's high. The index gained 0.3% on Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $45.88 per barrel, while gold traded at $1,838.8/Oz.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.