Munikoti RochanIndian shares rose a second straight session to finish higher Friday, after the nation’s central bank declared it will keep policy rates at record low levels to support an economy recouping from the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Stock Exchange’s NSE Nifty50 index closed 0.59% higher at 17,895.20 points, advancing 1.56% through the week ending 8 October.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.64% higher at 60,059.06 points and rose 1.11% this week.
The Nifty IT index, a basket of 10 technology stocks including software giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), jumped 1.96%. The Nifty Realty index, a basket of 10 stocks including builder Godrej Properties, tumbled 2.21%.
Nifty's outlook
“Since the last few trading sessions, the Nifty has been facing strong resistance in 17,800-17,950 points range,” ThincRedBlu Securities’ chief executive Gaurav Udani said in a note to clients, which was emailed to Capital.com.
“It is important for the Nifty to close above 17,950 points with higher than average volumes to resume its upward journey. Fresh longs should be initiated only on a closing above 17,950 points or near its support range of 17,580-17,620 points, with a strict stop loss," Udani added.
RBI never fails
India’s central bank “has been a juggler of many balls in the past year and till now, never have they once faltered on any front,” Samco Group chief executive Jimeet Modi said in a note to clients, emailed to this news platform.
“…For the eighth consecutive time, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) has stuck to its accommodative stance and maintained a balanced policy... The Committee has derived comfort from the declining inflationary tendencies and have lowered the inflation forecast for financial year 2021-22 from 5.7% to 5.3%. It seems their strategy going forward is a classic textbook one with liquidity management, the first check on their agenda, followed by a hike in reverse repo…”
“If the US Federal Reserve’s stance in November goes as expected, then December could be the time the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finally begins to reduce the gap between the repo and reverse repo rates,” Modi added.
Gainers/ losers
The Indian rupee was trading 0.14% lower to the US dollar to INR74.93 at 18:31 hours Indian time (UTC+530).
On the NIFTY, shares of oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL), software exporter Wipro, and rival Infosys were the top gainers, adding 3.76%, 2.96% and 1.94% respectively.
Mining giant Coal India (CIL), the SBI Life Insurance Company, and the country’s leading electricity producer NTPC were the top losers, shedding 1.57%, 1.51% and 1.3% respectively.
On the SENSEX, shares in RIL, Infosys, and rival software developer Tech Mahindra, were the biggest gainers, adding 3.84%, 1.91% and 1.61% respectively.
Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and NTPC were among the biggest losers, shedding 1.16% each. Drug maker Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) lost 0.88%.
