Varun Beverages to ICICI Bank: Five NIFTY100 stocks rising in current market rally

The Indian equity benchmarks surged for a fifth straight session on Friday, March 21. The 30-share SENSEX rose as much as 694 points and NIFTY50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 23,400. In the last five trading sessions, SENSEX has advanced over 4.16% and the NIFTY50 index has gained 4.25%, data from the stock exchanges showed.

Here is a list of shares that have been witnessing buying interest in over last five trading sessions:

Varun Beverages

Shares of Varun Beverages, the biggest PepsiCo bottler outside of the US, rose for sixth straight session on Friday. The stock rose as much as 0.61% in intraday deals to hit an intraday high of ₹552.05. In the last six trading session, the stock has jumped a whopping 15%. Varun Beverages has rebounded sharply after hitting a fresh 52-week low ₹419.55 on the National Stock Exchange on March 3.

Analysts say that expectations of warmer than usual summer season is also leading to surge in stocks in anticipation of higher demand for cold drinks.

Meanwhile, the rebound in the stock has also happened on the back of value buying after its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio saw a major decline.

Global investment banking and capital markets firm Jefferies said that the stock is currently trading at 45 times one-year forward P/E ratio, which is below its five-year average and close to some of the FMCG peers despite a better growth profile.

The stock ended 1.88% lower at ₹538.40.

Bank of Baroda

The shares of the public sector lender jumped for sixth straight session on Friday. The stock in the last six trading sessions has jumped 7.51% to hit high of ₹217, as per data from the National Stock Exchange. The bank had last week informed exchanges that it would attend BoFA's India Financials & Macro Trip - Group Investor Conference.

The up move in the stock has come on the back of larger buying interest in PSU banks. The measure of PSU banks on the National Stock Exchange, NIFTY PSU Bank index, gained for fourth straight session on Friday. The index has climbed nearly 6% in the last four trading sessions outperforming the NIFTY50 index.

The stock closed 0.44% higher at ₹216.70.

ICICI Bank

Shares of the country's second largest private lender, ICICI Bank, rose for sixth straight session on Friday. The stock rose as much as 1.77% in intraday deals and in the last six trading sessions it has jumped as much as 8.21%, according to BSE data.

Analysts say that ICICI Bank is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of the FTSE March semi-annual rebalancing which will come into effect on Friday. Indian equities are likely to attract $1.4 billion as part of the FTSE semi-annual rebalancing, according the news agency Reuters. ICICI Bank is likely to see inflows worth $426.9 million.

The bank earlier this week informed exchanges that it has allotted 1,70,9628 equity shares of face value of ₹2 each under ICICI Bank employees stock option scheme-2000.

ICICI Bank shares closed 1.52% higher at ₹1,341.

Avenue Supermarts

The promoter of DMart rose for twelfth session in a row on Friday. In the last 12 trading sessions, Avenue Supermarts shares have jumped nearly 16%. The company has invested nearly ₹175 crore in its subsidiary Avenue E-Commerce Ltd. Avenue Supermarts said that it has invested ₹174.99 crore by subscribing to 4.67 equity shares of Avenue E-Commerce Ltd (AEL) at an issue price of ₹37.41 per share.

The funds will be used for operational, working capital, and capex requirements.

The e-commerce unit was established in November 2014 and is involved in the business of online and multi-channel grocery retail under the 'DMart Ready' brand name.

The stock ended 0.47% higher at ₹3,896.

Punjab National Bank

Shares of the Delhi-based state-run lender jumped for sixth straight session on Friday. The stock advanced as much as 1.54% in the intraday deals to hit high of ₹92.75 on the BSE. In the last six trading sessions, the stock has jumped 6.73%. The bank informed exchanges that it would be attending Bharat Connect Conference: Rising StarsMarch 2025 organised by Arihant Capital.

Buying in the PSU lender is part of the larger up move in the PSU banking space.

The stock ended 1.93% higher at ₹93.10.