Tracking a broadly positive trend across Asian markets and lifted by FMCG stocks, Indian equity markets closed higher on Friday after a week of volatile swings. The upmove was further supported by a decline in U.S. Treasury yields, which eased investor concerns around interest rate pressures.

The Nifty 50 as well as the 30-component BSE Sensex ended the day with gains of nearly 1%. The former closed at 24,853.15, rising 243.45 points, while the latter ended the day with a surge of 769 points at 81,721.

The total market capitalization of all the BSE-listed companies surged by Rs 2.05 lakh crore.

Despite today’s surge, markets ended the week on a slightly weaker note. On a weekly basis, the Nifty 50 was down by 0.66% or 166.65 points. 3 out of 5 sessions ended up in the red, while 2 closed on a higher note.

Among the Nifty50 stocks, the shares of Eternal and HDFC Life Insurance were the top gainers, with gains of over 3% each. Following this were the shares of Jio Financial Services, Power Grid, ITC, SBI Life Insurance Company, and Nestle India, which climbed between 2-3%, as the index saw a positive market breadth.

Only four stocks witnessed declines, out of which Sun Pharmaceutical Industries emerged as the top loser of the day, with a fall of 1.7%.Sectoral action
Nifty FMCG surged was the top sectoral gainer in today’s trade, rising 1.63%, followed by the Nifty Financial Services index, which rose 1.15%, and Nifty Private Bank, witnessing a gain of 1.08%.

Nifty Pharma was the only index that ended with a loss, dropping 0.41%.

Expert View
“The index has moved higher after finding support at the 21-day EMA. Broadly speaking, the Nifty appears to be consolidating within the range of 24,700–25,000. The short-term trend remains positive, with momentum likely to strengthen above 25,000. A decisive breakout above this level could give the bulls an upper hand and potentially trigger a rally towards 25,250–25,350. On the downside, the index has support at 24,700; a break below this level could attract bearish bets,” said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

Ajit Mishra, SVP of Research at Religare Broking, noted that the rebound reflects positive sentiment despite mixed global cues, as participants are using dips to accumulate quality stocks across sectors. Technically, the recovery after retesting the crucial short-term support level, the 20-day exponential moving average (20 DEMA), has eased some pressure.

“The outlook could improve further with renewed strength in the banking and financial sectors after their consolidation phase. We maintain our view of adopting a “buy on dips” strategy, with a focus on selective stock picking, unless the Nifty decisively breaks below the 24,500 mark,” he added.

Global Markets
Asian shares gained on Friday as beaten-down Treasuries found buyers after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax bill narrowly passed the lower house, although debt worries still dominated.

The Nikkei 225 index of Japan was up by 0.47% at 37,160.47 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.24% higher at 23,601.26.

The Dow Jones index as well as the S&P 500 were both trading flat at 41,859.09 and 5,842.01, respectively, however, the Nasdaq was trading 0.28% higher at 18,925.73 around 4:05 pm on Friday.

Currency movement
An index tracking the U.S. currency against a basket of peers including the euro and Japan’s yen, was 0.2% lower and down 1.3% on the week in its first weekly drop since late April.

Rupee traded strong, appreciating by 72 paise to settle at 85.20 against the US dollar, marking a sharp 0.85% intraday gain. The rally was driven by a decline in the dollar index to 99.34, down 0.50%, coupled with renewed FII buying after recent selling pressure.

“The dual support from global dollar weakness and foreign inflows boosted market sentiment. Going ahead, the rupee is expected to trade within a range of 84.75 to 86,” said Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst of Commodity and Currency at LKP Securities.

Crude impact
Oil prices dropped for a fourth consecutive session on Friday and were set for their first weekly decline in three weeks, weighed down by rising expectations of another large OPEC+ output increase for July.

Brent futures fell 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $64.22 a barrel by 0919 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $60.99.

Both contracts are set to lose about 2% on the week following two weeks of gains.