A surge in the dollar and renewed foreign outflows pushed the rupee to a record low of 89.49 per US dollar, marking its steepest single-day fall in six months.
For the week, the Nifty, Sensex and Nifty Bank rose around 1% each, but the Midcap index fell 1%, reversing all early-week gains following Friday’s sharp drop. Analysts said the uptrend in benchmarks was supported by strength in IT stocks, while realty and metal shares were the biggest drags, falling 3-4%.
Friday’s session saw 30 Nifty constituents closing in the red, with Hindalco, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and HCLTech falling 2-3%. Metal stocks remained under pressure after reports of another fire incident at a Novelis plant weighed on Hindalco.In contrast, auto stocks outperformed, with Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra rising 1% each. Groww ended higher but off intraday peaks after posting mixed quarterly results.
Among midcaps, sentiment weakened sharply. Bharti Hexacom, Tube Investments and Indian Bank slipped 3-4%, while Voda Idea, Supreme Industries, Bharat Dynamics and Tube Investments were among the week’s top midcap laggards. The market breadth skewed heavily negative, with the NSE advance-decline ratio at 1:3.
Stocks in focus included IndusInd Bank, which rose 2% after the lender denied reports of a planned share sale, while GMR Airports gained around 1% after sources indicated the Airports Authority of India was planning a major airspace expansion by 2029. AWL Agri dropped over 3% after 6.6% equity changed hands in block deals, and Capillary Technologies gained 5% after managing to recover from a weak listing.
Despite hitting new 52-week highs earlier in the day, both Nifty and Sensex failed to sustain the momentum, closing well off the peaks as profit-taking emerged in metals, financials and midcaps.
