Nifty, Sensex gain for third straight week for first time in five months

The stock market notched a third consecutive weekly gain - their longest winning streak in five months - with benchmarks rising nearly 4% over the past three weeks, as broad-based buying lifted sentiment.

This week, all four frontline indices ended higher, gaining about 1% each. The rally was led by PSU banks, realty, power and oil & gas stocks. The Nifty PSU Bank index climbed 5%, realty rose 4%, BSE Power added 3%, and oil & gas gained 2%.

Thirty-four of the Nifty 50 constituents advanced, with Adani Enterprises, SBI, Eternal and Maruti among the top performers. Titan, Asian Paints, Nestle, Hindalco and ICICI Bank were the key laggards. In the broader market, Poonawalla Fincorp, Vodafone Idea, IREDA, RVNL and Godrej Properties led the midcap winners.

The benchmarks closed lower on Friday, dragged by profit-booking in IT and financial stocks, even as midcaps ended in positive territory.

The Sensex fell 388 points to close at 82,626 and the Nifty dropped 97 points to 25,327 after failing to hold above the 25,400 mark. The Nifty Bank index slipped 269 points to 55,459, while the Nifty Midcap index added 21 points to settle at 59,094.

Auto shares saw a mixed session ahead of the GST rate cuts coming into effect, with Mahindra & Mahindra among the top losers. Adani Group stocks rallied up to 13% after the market regulator SEBI cleared the group of alleged violations. Urban Company jumped 9% following its stellar listing debut earlier this week, while Vodafone Idea surged 8% after the government told the Supreme Court it was not opposed to the company’s AGR plea.

PSU lenders and financial PSUs saw renewed buying interest, with IREDA and HUDCO leading the gains. RPSG Group companies advanced on positive management commentary, with PCBL up 6% and CESC up 4%. Data-centre play Anant Raj rallied 10% to hit a seven-month high. Market breadth was neutral with the advance-decline ratio at 1:1.