Sensex, Nifty log best week in over two months

BENGALURU: Indian shares rose to a six-week high on Friday, led by gains in energy stocks, to log their best week in over two months, diverging from muted global markets.
The Nifty 50 index ended up 0.47% at 19,819.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.5% to 66,599.
The benchmarks recorded their second straight week of gains and posted their best week since the week ending June 30, gaining nearly 2%, each.
Stocks stabilised after a near week of easing, with the MSCI All Country stock index flat.
“We feel selective buying across sectors is fuelling the prevailing positivity across the board, with all sectors contributing on a rotational basis,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president for technical research at Religare Broking.
The blue-chip Nifty 50 and Sensex indexes recovered around 3% from the near two-month lows hit late August after data showed that India’s first-quarter GDP grew at 7.8%, the fastest in a year.
Small- and mid-cap stocks extended their record run and yet again outperformed the benchmark indexes, rising 0.6% and 1%, respectively.
They are up 32% and 30%, respectively, so far this year, outperforming the 9% gains in blue-chip indexes.
Energy companies and public sector enterprises were top gainers, rising 1.4% and 2.6%, respectively.
The indexes have risen 3.4% and 4.5%, so far this week, driven by a rally in power stocks on a sudden surge in power demand in the country. Coal India saw its best week, jumping 19%.
India’s banking stocks rose after the country’s central bank said it would discontinue maintenance of the incremental cash reserve ratio (I-CRR) by Oct. 7.
The country’s Railway group stocks also jumped 7%-9% on a report of possible deal talks with Saudi Arabia and the United States.