Weekly wrap 19-23 Feb: Nifty scales new lifetime high; Jio Financial breaches ₹2 lakh crore market cap

We are back with a quick recap of the stock markets this week. While the benchmark Nifty touched a new lifetime high, individual stocks like Paytm, Zomato and Zee Entertainment Enterprises remained in focus. Let’s take a look at what kept the D-Street busy.

Benchmark Nifty scaled record high levels while Sensex traded near its all-time highs despite heavy volatility. The terrific run by Nifty50, which touched record high levels in three of five sessions this week, was fuelled by domestic institutional investors. Foreign institutional investors, however, kept pressing the sell button.

After hitting its lifetime intraday high of 22,297.5, the benchmark Nifty50 closed at 22,212.7 on Friday while Sensex ended almost flat at 73,142.8, down 15.44 points. The 50-share index gained 176 points or 0.78% on a weekly basis whereas Sensex advanced 716 points or 0.99%.

The markets started the week on a positive note on Monday with Nifty closing at a record high on the back of gains in pharma, oil and gas, and FMCG shares. Lower inflation expectations and a pickup in private capex bolstered the sentiment.

The Nifty scaled fresh lifetime highs on Tuesday as banking, financial services and realty shares posted gains. Despite a correction on Wednesday, Nifty50 and Sensex staged dramatic recovery on Thursday.

In early trade, the benchmark drifted lower, but in the second half the index staged a sharp recovery on the back of gains in IT shares. Impressive earnings report by the US technology stocks, including chip major Nvidia, propelled buying in Indian IT shares. Nifty50 scaled all time high of 22,217.45 points on Thursday.

The key indices edged lower on Friday due to heavy volatility. Nifty, however, scaled its lifetime peak of 22,297.5 in intraday trade. The index closed above the crucial resistance level of 22,200 and the next resistance is seen at 22,400.

Zomato’s 52-week high

Food delivery platform Zomato hit a record high of ₹167.8 apiece on NSE on February 21 amid gains in the broader market. The rally was witnessed amid the reports of the expansion plan of its quick commerce arm Blinkit.

Jio Financial Services surpasses ₹2 lakh crore market cap

Reliance Industries shares hit a fresh 52-week high of ₹2,995.1 on NSE on Friday after group company Jio Financial Services reached a new milestone. Jio Financial Services rallied around 15% to hit a year’s high breaching the milestone of ₹2 lakh crore market cap. RIL closed at ₹2,986.35 apiece while Jio Financial Services settled at ₹335 apiece on NSE.

Nvidia results boost Indian IT shares

Chip major Nvidia reported a record 250% jump in revenue for the December quarter, triggering a rally in the US technology stocks. The strong results also indicated growing demand for AI computing equipment. The ripple effect of Nvidia’s meteoric rise in stock prices and valuation also felt on Indian technology shares.

Paytm shares rebound

The shares of Paytm-owner One97 Communications rebounded from 52-week lows. While issuing FAQs for Paytm Payments Bank account holders, RBI also extended the deadline for halting operations. The stock recovered from a 52-week low of ₹318.05 (on February 16) to a high of ₹403.70 on Friday, reflecting sharp gains of around 26%.

Deal or no deal: ZEEL shares fall like ninepins

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd shares went up mid-week after reports suggested that the company was trying to revive its merger deal with Sony’s Indian arm. The stock tanked around 15% on Wednesday after Zee denied the reports. The stock recovered some of the losses in the last two trading sessions of the week but ended with overall weekly loss of around 6%.

Busy IPO street

The primary market remained busy this week with eight public offers, including of SMEs, closing subscription to raise around ₹2,100 crore through IPOs. Some of those also made a stellar market debut like Esconet Technologies which recorded a premium of around 250% to the issue price.

The week ahead

With the winding down of the earnings season, stock markets will look to new catalysts and rally on the pre-election momentum. Concerns still linger over rising crude oil prices and surging US bond yields, which are likely to prompt continued selling by FIIs.