The NSE Nifty 50 hit a high of 17,382, and settled 279 points higher at 17,360. The 50-share index advanced 0.3 per cent in March, but was down 0.6 per cent for the fiscal year 2022-23.
Index-heavyweight Reliance Industries largely drove overall gains as shares surged over 4 per cent, after the conglomerate decided to demerge its financial services unit from the conglomerate.
That apart, broader markets, too, exhibited strength as smallcaps outperformed frontline indices.
Analysts, however, remain cautious over sustenance of this recent rebound as markets will face a slew of data driven activity in the coming days.
Morgan Stanley upgrades India: Global brokerage firm, Morgan Stanley upgraded India to ‘equal-weight’ from ‘neutral’ due to narrowing valuation premiums and resilient economy. While analysts remain ‘over-weight’ on North Asia excluding Japan, they remain ‘Under-weight’ on ASEAN countries.
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Sectorally, analysts remain overweight on financials and consumer discretionary, whereas they were equal-weight on healthcare.
Strong global cues: The US markets extended winning streak to the second straight day, after diluting concerns over the banking crisis triggered renewed buying across technology names. Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and NASDAQ Composite advanced up to 0.7 per cent overnight. Moreover, a rise in weekly unemployment claims mounted hopes of a slowdown in monetary policy tightening.
RIL leaps ahead: Shares of index-heavyweight Reliance Industries rallied over 4 per cent to Rs 2,333 per share in Friday’s intra-day trade, after the conglomerate said that it would meet on May 2, 2023, to mull demerger of its financial services unit. According to the plan, RIL’s shareholders would receive shares in the demerged entity for each one held in the company. READ MORE
Turnaround in FII flows: After the global financial turmoil butchered markets, FIIs have turned in favour of Indian markets, on the back of attractive valuations. In the past two days, FIIs have bought equities worth Rs 2,776.5 crore. So far in this month, they bought Rs 1,639.8 crore worth of equities.
Rupee strengthens: The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 82.1 in Friday’s early trade, following strong global cues, and foreign inflows. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against six major currencies, meanwhile, closed 0.05 per cent higher at 102.2.
“We expect the Nifty to resolve the upper upper band of the past 12 sessions range 17,200-16,800, gradually paving the way for heading towards 200 days-EMA placed at 17,500. Structurally, index is undergoing time-wise correction while absorbing a host of negative news globally, after approaching a lower band of four months falling channel. In the process, weekly stochastic approached oversold territory, indicating impending pullback,” wrote analysts at ICICI Securities in their daily note.