Sensex rises 127 points, Nifty closes at 11,930; Maruti, Tata Steel, M&M top gainers

Sensex and Nifty ended on a bullish note on Friday, amid positive global equities. After a range-bound trading session, Sensex closed 127 points higher at 40,685 and Nifty gained 33 points to 11,930. Yesterday, Sensex ended 148 points lower at 40,558 and NSE Nifty fell 41 points to 11,896.  During the week, Sensex and Nifty gained 702 (1.76%) and 167 (1.43%) points, respectively.

On the sectoral front, losses in pharma, realty and banking index were capped by gains in auto, metal, IT and media index.

Tata Steel, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins and TCS were among the top gainers on Sensex today. On the other hand, Infosys, HCL Tech, HUL and Asian Paints were the laggards.

Traders said positive economic data out of US and progress in stimulus talks in Washington lifted investors sentiments. With less than two weeks to go before the US presidential election, global markets have turned flat with positive bias.

 Vinod Nair, Head Of Research at Geojit Financial Services said," Indian indices displayed good momentum during this week's trading sessions aided by strong quarterly results, positive Chinese industrial data and renewed hopes of coronavirus vaccine. Domestic stocks posted largely positive performance and results were in line with expectations."

He added," Nifty auto outperformed all its sectoral peers and many auto firms are lined-up to announce their Q2 results in coming days. Investors need to be watchful of results of upcoming elections both in India and the US which will have short term impact on the indices, however, the market will retain its focus on quarterly results and improvement in economic activity."

Globally, there were 419.9 lakh confirmed cases and 11.4 lakh deaths from COVID-19 outbreak. In India, COVID-19 caseload breached the 77-lakh mark and the death toll from COVID-19 infections rose to 1.17 lakh, as of today.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking said,"Markets consolidated further for yet another day and ended marginally higher. A mixed trend was witnessed on the sectoral front wherein noticeable buying was observed in auto, consumer durables and capital goods space while realty, IT and healthcare traded subdued. Finally, the Nifty index settled at 11,931 levels. However, the broader markets outperformed wherein both Midcap and Smallcap ended higher by 0.5% and 0.7% respectively."

He added," All eyes are on US markets for updates on the stimulus package and upcoming presidential elections. The news on COVID-19 cases in Europe will also remain on the participants' radar. Volatility usually remains high in stocks during the earnings and we're seeing a similar trend. Amid all, the market is offering ample trading opportunities but the key is to identify the right stock."

September quarterly earnings announcements by Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, Yes Bank, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, IDBI Bank, JSW Steel also kept the tone for the stock market positive today.

Nirali Shah, Senior Research Analyst, Samco Securities said," Global apprehensions on the outcome of US elections have invariably heightened. And bourses appear to be entering a state of hibernation until US elections outcome, but until then reaching new highs could be challenging."

Expressing views on the events of the week, she said," India Inc's quarterly performance depicts recovery in the economy; Cement players surprised D-Street by posting robust volume and margin growth asserting on the fact that green shoots are visible. Swift demand revival was also visible from the pharma and FMCG numbers. IT companies managed to hit healthy topline as well as bottom-line growth and performed in line with market expectations. Further, banking sector managed to report stable asset quality figures and this stability was truly on account of the Apex Court's decision to not let bad accounts slip into NPA post abatement of the moratorium period."

Commenting on market's technical outlook, she added, "Short term immediate support and resistances for Nifty50 are now placed at 11600 and 12050."

On the currency front, Indian Rupee slipped 7 paise to settle at 73.61 per US dollar.

Reliance Power share zooms 20% on strong Q2 earnings

Stocks in news: HDFC Asset Management, Reliance Power, Alembic Pharma, TCS, Bharti Infratel