Markets end the week in red: NIFTY50 & SENSEX close marginally lower, IT and PSU banks gain for the week

Indian equity benchmarks ended the week in red as selling pressures from the FIIs and weak earnings dampened overall investor sentiment. The week was crucial in terms of two key events that went past. First, the US presidential elections ended with Donald Trump becoming the 47th president, beating Vice-president Kamala Hariss. Second, the Federal Reserve maintained its dovish policy stance by cutting interest rates by 25 bps. The Federal Reserve Bank of England also followed suit by cutting its benchmark rates by 25 bps.

The weekly wrap

Markets resumed the correction after taking a pause the previous week. The NIFTY50 and SENSEX closed the week marginally lower with 0.2% losses. Trent, Coal India, Asian Paints, and Grasim Industries were the top weekly losers in the NIFTY50, with losses ranging from 5% to 11%. Meanwhile, M&M, Apollo Hospitals, and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers, with gains ranging from 4.5% to 9%.

Sectorally, NIFTY IT (+4.1%), NIFTY PSU Bank (+1.8%) and NIFTY Auto (+1.2%) were the top three weekly gainers. While NIFTY Reality (-3.2%), Media (-2.9%) and Energy (-2.3%) were the top three sectoral losers.

The Broader markets too corrected as NIFTY smallcap fell 1.8% and NIFTY Midcap closed 0.2% lower for the week.

Markets started slightly positive but soon became volatile amid persistent foreign fund outflows. On November 7, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,888 crore.

The BSE Sensex ended at 79,486.32, down 55.47 points or 0.07% after trading between 79,117.37 and 79,807.26. The index had 14 advancing stocks and 16 declining stocks.

The NIFTY50 ended at 24,148.20, down by 51.15 points or 0.21% after trading between 24,066.65 and 24,276.15. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

On the global front, European markets traded lower on the back of mixed earnings results, while heavyweight luxury firms fell after Richemont's results failed to impress. European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 53.5 points or 0.66% to 8,087.24, France’s CAC fell 59.11 points or 0.8% to 7,366.49 and Germany’s DAX was down by 127.92 points or 0.67% to 19,234.60.

Asian markets ended mixed after the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point.Market participants shifted the focus to stimulus announcements from China later in the day as the meeting in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ended.