Sensex ends 6% higher this week, Nifty Bank surges 12%; check key factors behind markets’ upmove

Sensex recovered 600 points from day's low to end at 32,424 while Nifty 50 index settled at 9,580. During this week both Sensex and Nifty gained 6 per cent each

Extending the rally from the previous session BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 staged a smart recovery to end with upticks on Friday’s volatile session led by buying in FMCG and pharma stocks. Besides, the government is set to release economic growth data for Q4FY20 and core sector data for April later today. The GDP numbers will include the figures for one week of lockdown, which is likely to drag down the overall growth figure. Sensex recovered 600 points from day’s low to end at 32,424 while Nifty 50 index settled at 9,580. During this week both Sensex and Nifty gained 6 per cent each. “GDP is expected to slow down rapidly in the March quarter and markets will be looking at the associated commentary to understand the course of recovery,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

ONGC share price jumps over 5%: ONGC was the top Sensex gainer with a growth of 5.26 per cent to end at Rs 83 apiece on BSE. Among other Sensex gainers were Bajaj-Auto, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, ITC, HDFC and HUL. While Axis Bank led the pack of losers on the index. Bharti Airtel, Infosys, TCS, Titan and RIL were among other laggards.

FMCG, pharma stocks rally: Except Nifty IT and Nifty Media, all the sectoral indices finished their trade in positive territory. Nifty Realty, Nifty Pharma and Nifty FMCG gained 4.28 per cent, 3.21 per cent and 2.97, respectively.

Broader market: The broader market,  mid-caps and small-caps, outperformed the benchmarks, as their sectoral indices on BSE closed 1.90 per cent and 1.14 per cent higher in comparison to a 0.69 per cent rise in S&P BSE Sensex. “On the first day for the June series, Nifty closed above the major level of 9500. Market breadth remained in favor of bulls as for every five gainers there were only a couple of losers,” said Vishal Wagh, Head of Research, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

Rupee ends higher: The Indian rupee settled higher at 75.61 per US dollar as against Thursday’s close of 75.76 per dollar. “Although the rupee may find some ground temporarily due to dollar inflows and a rebound in domestic equities, where the 76.60 mark is providing a cushion, it will be difficult for the rupee to climb above the 74.80 mark. The overarching trend for the rupee looks weak,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, VP-Metals, Energy & Currency Research at Religare Broking Ltd.

Lockdown 4.0 to end on May 31: The fourth phase of nationwide lockdown is set to end on May 31. With rising cases in India, investors remained on the sideline to see if the Centre will further extend the lockdown. In the last 24 hours, India reported a spike of 7,466 new coronavirus cases and 175 deaths. The total number of COVID-29 cases in the country stands at 1,65,799.