Indian equity benchmarks ended flat on Friday but finished the week nearly two percent higher each, boosted by gains across most financial, oil & gas, automobile and metal shares. Both Sensex and Nifty clocked a second straight weekly gain. The IT index, however, lost momentum following last week's 3.6 percent surge.
For the week ended December 10, the Sensex gained 1,090.2 points or 1.9 percent and the Nifty50 climbed up 314.6 points or 1.8 percent. The 30-scrip index settled at 58,786.7, and the 50-scrip barometer at 17,511.3.
Broader markets strengthened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 soaring three percent for the week. Its smallcap counterpart zoomed 3.9 percent.
D-Street this week
Easing of uncertainty around the Omicron variant of COVID helped the market recover after a weak start to the week.
Domestic equities staged a strong recovery following reports that the new variant is not as as deadly as anticipated earlier, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
The RBI's decision to hold key interest rates and remain 'accommodative' further boosted investor confidence. Governor Shaktikanta Das promised continued support for the economy to help it sustain a durable recovery amid worries around the Omicron.
Many analysts said the RBI policy was more dovish than predicted.
"While we may celebrate that GDP statistics are slightly higher than pre-COVID levels, we are still far behind where we would have been if the pandemic had not occurred," said Yesha Shah, Head of Equity Research at Samco Securities.
"Given these considerations, as well as the possible danger posed by Omicron, it appears that the MPC's best course of action at this time was to continue to support the broader economy. However, for how long can the RBI policy not tilt towards inflation is a wait-and-watch event," she said.
Foreign investors emerged net buyers of Indian equities for the week, bringing in Rs 838.3 crore ($106.8 million). But they remain net sellers for the month so far.
Winners and losers
Most of NSE's sectoral indices saw weekly gains. The Nifty Media surged 9.1 percent. The heavyweight financial basket was in high demand, with the Nifty Bank rising 2.5 percent.
The Nifty Oil & Gas index gained 2.8 percent for the week.
On the other hand, the Nifty Healthcare was the only gauge sliding into a weekly loss, though down just half a percent. The Nifty Pharma was flat.
As many as 32 stocks in the Nifty50 universe emerged weekly gainers.
Hindalco, ITC, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints and Tata Steel were the top performers. On the other hand, Coal India, Divi's, Cipla, Indian Oil and Power Grid were the top laggards.
| Stock | Weekly change (%) | Stock | Weekly change (%) |
| Hindalco | 7.6 | Coal India | -5.3 |
| ITC | 6.5 | Divi's | -5.3 |
| ICICI Bank | 5.8 | Cipla | -2 |
| Asian Paints | 5.6 | Indian Oil | -1.8 |
| Tata Steel | 5.6 | Power Grid | -1.7 |
| JSW Steel | 5.4 | Titan | -1.3 |
| Bajaj Finance | 5.4 | Bharti Airtel | -1.1 |
| SBI | 4.6 | Kotak Mahindra Bank | -0.9 |
| Adani Ports | 4.1 | HDFC Life | -0.9 |
| L&T | 4 | HCL Tech | -0.8 |
Adani Gas, Vodafone Idea, Indian Bank, Trident and HFCL -- up 12.3-22.5 percent -- rose the most among midcap and smallcap shares. On the flipside, JSW Energy, Dr Lal, Whirlpool, Indigo Paints and Strides Shasun -- down 5.4-7.4 percent -- were among the losers.
Some 370 stocks in the BSE 500 -- the broadest gauge on the bourse -- finished the week with gains.
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