Nifty ends marginally lower but holds above 10,000 , up 1% for week

The benchmark Nifty50 pared losses in the last leg of trade to end the first day of August series above 10,000-mark, up 1% for the week. Sensex, on the other hand, also ended marginally lower for the day but up 1% for the week. The street was dragged down by after Dr. Reddy’s extended fall for the second straight day post weaker Q1 quarterly earnings. Negative cues from Asian markets after US tech shares pulled Wall Street slightly lower also contributed to the losses.

Broader markets outperformed benchmark indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap, up 0.5% and 0.4% respectively.

Focus now shifts to Reserve Bank of India’s two-day monetary policy meeting, which is set to begin next week on Tuesday, while the outcome is expected on Wednesday.

HDFC, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Ports and ONGC gained the most on BSE Sensex while Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, Lupin, ICICI Bank and HeroMoto Corp lost the most on the index

Top weekly gainers: YES Bank (up 16.75%), HDFC (8.8%), HDFC Bank (4.4%), Indusind Bank (3.9%) and Adani Ports (3.6%)

Top weekly losers: ITC (down 14.4%), De Reddy’s (down 9%), Lupin (down 6.5%), Ultratech Cement (down 4.7%), HeroMoto Corp (down 3.3%)

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) shares touched a fresh all-time high of Rs 1,798, up as much as 4 percent in afternoon trade. The rally was in addition to 5.83 percent upside seen in the previous session.

It was driven by value buying, especially after June quarter earnings. Even analysts retained their positive stance on the stock.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its target price on the stock to Rs 1,925 (from Rs 1,791 earlier) and Deutsche Bank also upped target price by 2.2 percent to Rs 1,840 (from Rs 1,800 earlier). Both have maintained buy rating on it.