Weekly Market Wrap: SENSEX, NIFTY50 climb nearly 2%; Nifty India Defence jumps 4%, Asian Paints leads gain

During the week, global cues significantly influenced market sentiment, particularly after the US government ended its shutdown. Domestic factors also played a role, with India’s inflation data offering further support to the market mood.

Retail inflation dropped to a record low of 0.25% in October, driven by GST rate cuts on nearly 380 mass-consumption items and subdued prices of vegetables, fruits, and eggs. This marked the lowest CPI-based inflation reading in the current series (base year 2012), which has tracked data since January 2014.

Additionally, wholesale inflation slipped to a 27-month low of (-)1.21% in October, as food items like pulses and vegetables saw sharp deflation, along with lower fuel and manufactured goods prices, according to government data released on Friday.

On the flip side, Trent (-5.1%), Bajaj Finance (-4.5%), Tata Steel (-3.9%), Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (-3.6%), and Apollo Hospitals (-2.9%) ended as the week’s biggest losers.

On Friday, the S&P BSE SENSEX closed at the 84,562.78 level, rising 84.11 points, or 0.1%, while the 50-share index NIFTY50 closed at the 25,910.05 level, up 30.90 points, or 0.12%.

The volatility index, India VIX, slipped nearly 5% and touched a one-week low of 11.23 level.

Sectoral watch this week

On the sectoral front, Nifty India Defence led the gains with a 4.1% rise, followed by Nifty IT (3.4%), Nifty Pharma (2.9%), and Nifty Auto (1.7%). Nifty Bank also recorded a 1.1% increase.

Within the Nifty Defence index, Data Patterns (18.5%), Dynamatic Technologies (13.9%), and Paras Defence and Space Technologies (13.2%) were the top performers during the week.

Meanwhile, Nifty Media (-0.7%) and Nifty Realty (-0.6%) were the only sectoral indices to end the week in the red.

How the broader market performed this week

During the week, the Nifty Midcap 100 advanced 1.5%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 1%.

On the Nifty Midcap 100, Muthoot Finance (15.3%), Vodafone Idea (13.8%), NALCO (11.9%), Bharat Dynamics (11.5%) and Aurobindo Pharma (8.8%) were the main contributors.

On the flip side, Fortis Healthcare (-8.1%), PI Industries (-5.3%) and Vishal Mega Mart (-4.4%) were the top losers.

On the Nifty Smallcap 100, Data Patterns (18.5%), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (12.5%), PF Electroplast (9.4%), Jyoti CNC Automation (7.8%), and JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (7.1%) led the gainers.

In contrast, Ola Electric Mobility (-9.2%), Afcons Infrastructure (-7.8%) and Whirlpool of India (-7.1%) were the main losers on the index.