Market logs best weekly gains in 4 years as Nifty crosses 23,400

The Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Friday, extending their winning streak to five sessions buoyed by a stronger rupee, slowing FII selling, and renewed buying in IT stocks. Nifty 50 briefly climbed above 23,400 for the first time in two months, reflecting improving investor confidence. At close, the Sensex was up 557.45 points or 0.73 percent at 76,905.51, and the Nifty was up 159.75 points or 0.69 percent at 23,350.40.
For the week, Sensex and Nifty rose more than 4 percent each, logging the best weekly gain in last four years, according to information.
BPCL, ONGC, SBI Life Insurance, NTPC, Bajaj Finance were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Hindalco Industries, Wipro, Trent, Infosys, Tata Steel.On the sectoral front,except consumer durables and metal, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with oil & gas, media, telecom up 2 percent each. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices added 1-2 percent.
Market This Week:
●Market records best week in more than 4 years, Nifty up over 4 percent,
●Midcap index rises nearly 8 percent, biggest weekly gain since April 2020,
●Small cap index surges nearly 9 percent, biggest gain since June 2020,
●BSE-listed companies market cap increases nearly Rs 22 lakh crore this week,
●All sectoral indices record gains
Rupee Close:
On 21 Mar'25,rising for the sixth straight session, the rupee appreciated 36 paise to close at 85.97  against the US dollar on Friday on a sharp rise in the domestic equity markets and fresh foreign capital inflows. According to information, this is the sixth straight session of gain for the rupee, during which it has added 123 paise.
Trading Guide:
Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities, reportedly quoted as saying,investors shrugged off negative global markets sentiment, as FIIs making a steady comeback to local equities this week coupled with a sharp drop in the domestic currency level provided a major fillip. With the recent fall making stocks attractive across several sectors, including broader mid & small-cap indices, investors continued with short covering which helped Sensex breach the 77k mark in intra-day trades. Also, investors could be squaring off their positions ahead of next week's monthly F&O expiry, resulting in a sharp rally.
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(Business Correspondent)