After two days of heavy selling, Dalal Street bounced back on Friday. The Sensex rose 879.09 points, or 1.23%, to close at 72,472.33 on October 9. The Nifty 50 gained 288.65 points, or 1.30%, to end at 22,520.45.
The rally more than made up for Thursday’s fall, when the Sensex had dropped 1.44% to 71,593.24 and the Nifty had slipped 1.64% to 22,231.80. Bank stocks joined in too, with the Nifty Bank index closing 1.36% higher at 55,257.
Why the market went up
TCS delivered. India’s largest IT company posted better-than-expected quarterly results, and that lifted the entire IT pack. TCS shares rose 4.23% to ₹2,163.
Bargain hunting. After two days of selling, many investors saw good stocks at cheaper prices and bought in.
Oil cooled off a little. Brent crude slipped about 0.7% to $103.53 a barrel. Cheaper oil eases the pressure on inflation, which matters even more after the RBI’s rate hike this week.
Less fear. The India VIX, which tracks how nervous traders are, fell 6% to 14.36.
Sensex today: top gainers and losers
ITC led the gainers with a 4.78% jump to ₹266.20. Apollo Hospitals rose 4.60% to ₹8,020, LTM gained 4.01% to ₹4,065.15 and Lenskart Solutions added 3.66% to ₹677.95.
On the other side, Anand Rathi fell 5%, Avenue Supermarts (DMart) slipped 2% and BSE lost 1.43%. Reliance Industries ended 1.06% lower and JSW Steel fell 0.90%.
Among sectors, IT, FMCG and auto stocks did best. Oil and gas was the only sector to end in the red.
Foreign investors are still selling
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth about ₹12,944 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutions such as mutual funds bought about ₹10,703 crore. This tug of war between foreign sellers and Indian buyers has been deciding the market’s direction in recent weeks. Friday’s numbers were not out at the time of writing.
What to watch next week
More big companies will report their quarterly results, and the RBI’s meeting minutes come out on October 21. Crude oil above $100 a barrel remains a risk. With Diwali on November 8, traders are also gearing up for the special Muhurat trading session, usually held on Diwali evening.
Market data from Dhanarthi and Kotak Securities. This is not investment advice.
