Market This week: Despite Thursday’s sharp selloff, Indian benchmark indices ended the volatile week with modest gains amid continued selling in IT stocks and rising crude oil prices due to rising tensions in the Middle East. In the week ending February 20, BSE Sensex closed at 82,814.71 with a gain of 187.95 points or 0.22 percent. Whereas Nifty closed at 25,571.25 with a gain of 100.15 points or 0.39 percent.
Last week, Nifty Midcap index closed with a gain of 0.35 percent. Thermax, Indian Bank, Godrej Industries, Hitachi Energy India, Bank of India, GMR Airports, Petronet LNG, Bharat Dynamics, and Bank of Maharashtra were the top midcap gainers. On the other hand, Brainbees Solutions, Ola Electric Mobility, Hexaware Technologies, Persistent Systems, Vedant Fashions, and Clean Science & Technology saw a decline of 6-18 percent.
BSE’s Largecap index closed with a gain of 0.4 percent. Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Cummins India, Bank of Baroda, and Hyundai Motor India were the top gainers. Waaree Energies, Info Edge (India), Eternal, SRF, Tech Mahindra, LTIMindtree, and Swiggy were the top losers.
At the same time, BSE’s smallcap index saw a decline of 0.5 percent. Aqylon Nexus, Filatex Fashions, Transworld Shipping Lines, Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services, Stallion India Fluorochemicals, SEPC, Shoppers Stop, and Pennar Industries saw a decline of 16-22 percent.
On the other hand, VL E-Governance and IT Solutions, Novartis India, RACL Geartech, KRN Heat Exchanger and Refrigeration, Godfrey Phillips India, Aeroflex Industries, Netweb Technologies India, Jyoti Structures, Newgen Software Technologies, Sadhana Nitrochem, and Jindal Poly Investment and Finance Company saw a gain of 16-28 percent.
This week, the biggest increase was seen in the market capitalization of Larsen & Toubro. It was followed by Asian Paints, Titan Company, and Axis Bank. On the other hand, State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki India, UltraTech Cement and Trent saw a decline in market capitalization.
Sectoral performance was mixed this week. The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 5.5 per cent, while the Nifty Energy index rose 2.4 per cent and the Nifty FMCG index rose 1.7 per cent. Nifty Pharma, Healthcare and Defense indices gained about 1 per cent each. However, Nifty Auto, IT and Media indices declined by 1.3–2.5 per cent during this period.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling for the second consecutive week, selling equities worth ₹637.68 crore this week. In contrast, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) continued their buying, buying equities worth ₹6,883.81 crore.
The Indian rupee snapped its two-week-long gains and closed 34 paise lower at 90.98 against the US dollar on February 20, compared to 90.64 on February 13. During the week, the domestic currency traded between 90.59 and 90.99.