Markets this week: Sensex, Nifty end 0.3% higher; UltraTech Cement top gainer, YES Bank top loser

For Friday, benchmark equity indices ended higher led by gains in auto, FMCG and IT space. The Sensex settled 147 points higher at 41,600, while the Nifty50 index ended the day 41 points higher at 12,257. Nifty rallied 95 points to hit a new high of 12,311. It hit its previous record high of 12,293.90 on December 20, 2019. Meanwhile, Sensex rallied 323 points to hit the day's high of 41,775.

Both Sensex and Nifty added 0.3 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively this week.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Realty rose the most, over 3.5 percent, while Nifty FMCG added 0.9 percent and Nifty Auto rose 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, Nifty PSU Bank shed 2.5 percent and Nifty Pharma and Nifty Energy slipped 0.7 percent each for the week. Nifty Metal was also down 0.3 percent. Nifty Bank was flat for the week.

UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, M&M, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, and UPL were the top Nifty gainers, up between 2 percent and 5.5 percent. JSW Steel, Kotak Bank, Dr Reddy's, Vedanta, HUL and Titan Bank were some of the other gainers for the week.

UltraTech Cement shares rose 5.5 percent on expectations that the government's recent push towards infrastructure creation will lead to a price hike on the back of increased demand.

Tata Motors was up nearly 3 percent surges on strong JLR sales in China.

Adani Ports also gained over 2 percent after rating agencies Fitch and Moody's said that the company's Rs 5,500-crore acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port (which increases company's debt by 20 percent) will not impact its ratings.

Meanwhile, YES Bank, Zee, Eicher Motors, Coal India, ONGC, and Hero MotoCorp were the top laggards in the Nifty50 index this week, down 2.9-5 percent.

YES Bank plunged nearly 5 percent ahead of its board meet, where they will discuss raising funds by issue of equity shares or depository receipts or convertible bonds or debentures or warrants or any other equity-linked securities.

Zee lost over 3.5 percent in the week after TRAI revised rules for DTH, Cable TV tariffs.

SPARC, Sun TV, Alkem Labs, Ramco Cements, Tata Global, and Balkrishna Industries were the major mid-cap gainers, up 7-12 percent for the week.

Sun TV rose over 7.5 percent after Nomura maintained a buy rating on the stock with a target at Rs 689 per share. However, the firm is of the view that the advertisement industry is likely to see a sharp slowdown in the third quarter adding that subscription growth remains healthy but risks due to the TRAI order.

Balkrishna Industries was up 7 percent after Nomura upgraded the off-highway tyre maker to buy with a target price of Rs 1,148. The global brokerage said demand outlook for the firm was improving and volume recovery for its business was visible.

Among losers, Reliance Infra, Reliance Capital and Reliance Power lost over 20 percent each. Meanwhile, Edelweiss Financial Services, Max Financial Services, Indiabulls Ventures, Syngene International, and MGL also slipped 5-11 percent for the week.

Reliance Infra was down over 22 percent after IDBI Trusteeship Services on Thursday invoked pledge of 55 lakh equity shares of the company, representing 2 percent of its share capital. These shares were pledged in favour of IDBI in capacity of debenture trustee for NCDs issued by Reliance Power, the BSE filing by Reliance Infra said.