Sensex up 700 points, Nifty clears 17,150 mark; benchmark indices up 8% this month

Domestic benchmark indices added over 1.3% on the last day of the week powered by metals, media and banks. On a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty added 2.25% with the latter regaining and holding the 17,000 mark. Nifty has gained 8% on a monthly basis.

So far 28 Nifty companies have already reported their Q1 numbers, and there seem to be no hiccups on revenue growth or demand momentum fronts. Margins came under pressure, but the issue was largely anticipated as company managements had predicted the same but also exuded confidence that it would be addressed in the forthcoming quarters.

On Friday, BSE Sensex settled at 57,570 levels, adding 712 points or 1.25% and the broader CNX Nifty gauge closed over 17,158 mark, surging almost 229 points or 1.35% from its previous close.

Top Nifty laggards of the day were Bajaj Auto (-3.8%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.9%) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (-6.5%), while Bajaj Finserv (+15%), Bajaj Finance (+18.7%), Bajaj Finance (+15.7) and Tata Steel (+14.9%) were the top gainers.

"We are of the view that, the short term texture of the market is bullish but due to temporary overbought situation we could see some profit booking at higher levels. For the traders now, 200 day SMA or 17000 / 57100 and 16900/ 56750 would act as a key support zones and on the higher side 17300-17400 / 58100-58400 could act as a profit booking zone for the short term traders. Buying on dips and sell on rallies could be the ideal strategy for the short term traders,” wrote Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities Ltd in a post-market note on Friday.

Nifty has been outperforming its global peers, as most of the global equity indices are trading below their recent support. Global equity markets continued their strong rally on expectations of the US nearing the end of its rate hike cycle.

Decent 1QFY23 earnings print for domestic-facing companies also aided market sentiment. Metals, banks and realty were top performers in the week, while auto and healthcare witnessed losses on a week-on-week basis.

On the economy front, US FOMC increased the federal funds rate by 75 bps, while stating that future rate hikes will be dependent on data. FPI outflows stood at US$86 mn over the past five trading sessions, while DIIs bought US$259 mn over the same period.