Bulls strengthened their hold on Dalal Street with the benchmark equity indices, extending their gains for the fourth straight week. The 30 share BSE Sensex increased by 2.47 per cent, or 1,478 points, to 61,223 on January 14 from around 59,745 levels on January 7. The 50-share NSE Nifty index increased by 2.49 per cent, or 443 points, to 18,255 during the same period.
As many as 41 stocks in the Nifty index settled in the green last week. Larsen Toubro advanced the most in the past five trading sessions with a rally of 7.34 per cent. It was followed by Infosys up 6.34 per cent Mahindra Mahindra's Adani Ports up 5.98 per cent and Coal India up 4.97 per cent. On the other hand, Wipro and Asian Paints declined 10 per cent and 5.93 per cent, respectively. Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever and Axis Bank also declined between 1 percent and 3 percent.
Wipro said its standalone net profit fell by 8.67 per cent to Rs 2,419. In Q 3 of FY 22, there were 8 crore from Rs 2,649. In the corresponding quarter last year, there were 7 crore. Net profit was almost flat, up 0.03 per cent YoY at Rs 2,969 crore.
Among the sectoral indices of the BSE, the Power index gained 7.44 per cent during the week. Capital Goods, Realty, Information Technology and Auto Indexes and other indices increased by more than 2.50 per cent and 6.20 per cent. The BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap gained 2.40 per cent and 3.06 per cent, respectively.
It seems that investors are not too worried about the rising Covid 19 cases, as reports suggest that the fast-spreading Omicron variant is not virulent and hospitalisation cases are very low. The World Bank said in its latest projections that India's gross domestic product growth forecast for FY 22 is 8.3 per cent for the current financial year 2021 -- 22 is what it stated in its last projection in October 2021. It increased the country's growth forecast for FY 23 to 8.7 per cent from the 7.5 per cent estimate earlier in the day. It cited an improvement in growth prospects, especially a reviving of the private capex cycle for up-gradation.
Long bullish candles were formed on the weekly charts for the third week in a row. Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities said there was no signs of a reversal of the highs as per smaller and larger timeframe charts. He further stated that the near-term uptrend status of Nifty remains intact, and Friday's intraday weakness has not dampened the efforts of bulls to sustain the highs. The emergence of sustainable buying from the dips and the overall positive daily chart pattern signal the next upside target of 18,600 by next week. Shetti said there was immediate support at 18,100 levels.
Market participants would not participate in the upcoming week on the quarterly results of Tata Steel Long Products, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, JSW Energy, Larsen Toubro Infotech, Nelco, Tata Communications, Bajaj Finserv, Havells India, HDFC Life, JSW Steel, PVR, Reliance Industries, etc. Foreign institutional investors and the movement of the rupee against the dollar will be closely watched, as well as the trend in investment by foreign institutional investors.
On the global front from the US, traders will first look at the NAHB Housing Market Index on January 17 followed by Redbook on January 19, Initial Jobless Claims, Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index on January 20 and finally Baker Hughes Total Rig Count on January 21.
Amol Athawale, deputy vice president-technical research, said the texture of the market is bullish but due to an overstretched rally, Nifty could consolidate between 18,050 and 18,375. The same breakout formation would continue up to 18,500 and would be the immediate hurdle for the bulls, according to 18,375 -- 18,400. On the flip side, 18,150 would be the sacrosanct support level to watch out for. If the index fails to close below the same, the Nifty could retest 18,050 -- 18,000 levels.