ITC rally helps Nifty end at record closing high, Sensex posts 2.5% weekly gain

Equity benchmarks closed flat with a positive bias Friday as investors preferred to book profits after the Nifty hit a record high of 9,218.40 in opening following approval to important GST legislations by GST Council. ITC helped the market close in green while banks, infra and telecom stocks were under pressure on profit booking.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 63.14 points at 29,648.99 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 6.35 points at 9,160.05.

After a record high, experts expect some consolidation before the Sensex crossing psychological 30,000-mark next week. Overall they remain upbeat on markets, expecting the 15-20 percent returns in current calendar year. Valuations will remain elevated, they feel.

Riding high on the liquidity bandwagon, the Nifty, which has already rallied over 12 percent so far in 2017, looks poised to hit 9,500-9600 mark in the next 4-6 weeks, says Mohammed Apabhai of Citigroup Global Markets.

He believes that the market is nowhere close to 2008 bubble.

Meanwhile, almost 14 of 18 fund managers and analysts polled are of the view that the Sensex is likely to hover in a range of 30,000-35,000 soon.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap falling 0.1 percent on weak breadth. About 1578 shares declined while 1243 shares advanced on the exchange.

For the week, the Sensex rallied 2.4 percent and Nifty gained 2.5 percent on BJP’s landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand and Federal Reserve’s rate hike decision.

The rupee snapped four-day gains, down 4 paise to close at 65.45 a dollar. It fell more than 25 paise intraday but managed to trim losses in later part of the session.

ITC posted biggest one-day gain in last 10 months, rising nearly 5 percent as analysts remained upbeat on the stock after GST Council decided to cap the cess rate on tobacco products at Rs 4,170 per 1,000 sticks or 290 percent ad valorem.

Tata Steel hit 2.5-year high intraday, up 0.6 percent at close after Credit Suisse raised target on the stock to Rs 600, citing likely higher output and better spreads in European Union industry.

Nifty Bank closed in red as SBI was down 1.7 percent and ICICI Bank fell 1.3 percent. However, HDFC Bank (up 0.55 percent) and Axis Bank (up 0.66 percent) capped downside.

Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular were biggest losers among Nifty stocks, down around 4 percent. Among others, Infosys gained 1 percent whereas L&T, M&M, ONGC and Bajaj Auto were down a percent each.

Music Broadcast gained 12 percent on debut, closing at Rs 373 against issue price of Rs 333.

In broader space, Godrej Properties rose 3.6 percent as Morgan Stanley remained overweight on the stock with a target price of Rs 433 on strong brand equity, geographic diversification, potential to unlock value from project/land acquisitions and reasonable valuation.

United Bank of India was up nearly 7 percent. The government will infuse Rs 418 crore as part of turnaround-linked capital infusion plan.

Aviation stocks like Jet Airways and InterGlobe Aviation gained around 3 percent after aviation minister Jayant Sinha said the government is working on modalities of 100 percent FDI in civil aviation.