Market kicks off FY23 on a high! Sensex rallies 708 points; Nifty ends above 17,650

All the sectoral indices ended in the green, with financial and oil and gas stocks pushing the 30-share pack Sensex sharply higher in the final hour of trade by 708.18 points or 1.21% at 59,276.69. Its broader peer NSE Nifty gained 205.70 points or 1.18%, to settle near the 17,700 mark.

Both indices have gained in four out of five trading sessions and have managed to log their second best week in seven months. In the financial year ended March 31, the Nifty and the Sensex rose more than 18% each.

Sensex reclaimed the 59,000 level for the first time since 10 February and Nifty closed at highest since Feb 2.

“Benchmark Indices today gained over 1.35% with the volatility index dropping over 11%. Buoyant GST collections for March lifted sentiments with the Nifty PSE and the PSU bank indices registering smart gains on the first day of the new financial year with several stocks in sectors like hospitality to paper being sought after on many states doing away with all Covid related curbs,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities.

Gainers & Losers
Record power generation in FY22 helped Power Grid and NTPC surge 4-6% in the Sensex pack, while IndusInd Bank, SBI, HDFC twins, M&M, and Bajaj Finance also ended the week with gains. Only 5 out of 30 stocks including Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, and DRL ended with cuts.

Hero Moto was the top Nifty loser falling over 2% following a detailed statement from I-T Department.

Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1.49% and the small-cap gained 1.68%. The midcap index crossed 30,000 for the first time since February 11. BHEL, Union Bank, HDFC AMC, Lux Industries, Manappuram, Indiabulls HSG, NBCC are top Midcap and smallcap gainers, while Atul, Intellect Design, Ipca, Alkem, Nippon were top Midcap laggards.

Sectoral Matrix

13 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the NSE — ended in the green. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services outperformed the index by rising as much as 2.13% and 1.87%.

Nifty Bank closed rose 5% this week and closed at highest level since 23 Feb. The index has managed to gain in 3 out of 4 weeks.

Nifty Realty gained over 5% to post best week since 7 November. Except pharma, all sectoral indices record gains this week, realty top gainer. India VIX, barometer of future volatility, declined over 20% this week, most in nearly 2 years.

In Spotlight

M&M was the top gainer in the Nifty Auto pack, rising 2.31% after reporting a 35% YoY rise in overall auto sales to 54,643 units in March. Ashok Leyland and Bajaj Finance also surged 2.3% and 1.79% respectively on better than expected sales data.

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported a 2% rise in total wholesales to 1,70,395 units in March and clocked its highest-ever exports of 2.38 lakh units in FY22. The company’s scrip settled 1.41% higher.

Tata Motors also surged over 1.5% after the company logged 30% YoY growth in total domestic sales in the previous month.

SML Isuzu zoomed 11% as total sales jumped 43% at 1,363 units vs 952 units on a YoY basis.

Index Stats
Market breadth firmly favours advances, advance-decline ratio at 7:1.

About 2,721 shares advanced, 674 shares declined and 106 shares remained unchanged. 133 stocks tested their 52-week highs during the session, whereas 21 others tested their 52-week lows. 19 stocks hit their upper circuit limit, while 2 stocks were locked in the lower circuit.

Global Markets
Exchanges in Seoul and Tokyo ended lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the green. Markets in Europe were mostly trading higher. US Futures and European markets were also higher. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.22 per cent to $104.94 per barrel.