Indian stocks rebound sharply to log marginal weekly gains; Sensex up 843 points

In brief, the Indian equity markets rebounded sharply in the second half on Friday to end the week with marginal gains.

Sensex closed at 82,133.12 points, up 843.16 points or 1.04 per cent, and Nifty closed at 24,768.30 points, up 219.60 points or 0.89 per cent. Among the sectoral indices, FMCG, private bank, and consumer durables were the top movers, while media, metal, and pharma were the top losers, NSE data showed.

A gradual easing in food inflation and a price hike by FMCG companies, along with a recent correction in valuation, supported the sector to outperform, asserted Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"The domestic market smartly recovered from the day's low and moved out of the consolidation path led by index heavyweights."

"Currently, the market is anticipating a revival in consumer spending, driven by the festive season and year-end holidays, adding to the sentiments. Additionally, the expectation of an increase in US spending is propelling the IT sector," Nair added.

India's retail inflation in November was at 5.48 per cent as compared to 6.21 per cent logged in October, falling in line with the Reserve Bank of India's 2-6 per cent comfort band.

"Impact of the US economic policy, recovery in domestic consumption and investment and CPI inflation are some of the factors to be focused on over the next few months," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of equity Research, Kotak Securities.

After today's firm performance, Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking, said they maintain a positive outlook on the IT and banking sectors.

The latest rally in indices helped recover some of the recent losses, with indices gaining a few per cent over the past four sessions.

The Sensex remains nearly 4,000 points below its all-time high of 85,978 points. Recent bearish trends have been attributed to fund outflows, lower-than-expected Q2 earnings by India Inc., and persistently high inflation. (ANI)