Mumbai, Feb 21 (IANS) The Indian equity benchmarks posted mild gains on a weekly basis, despite several sessions of sharp declines in the IT index.
Nifty added 0.39 per cent during the week and added 0.46 per cent on the last trading day to settle at 25,571. At Friday’s close, Sensex was up 316 points or 0.38 per cent at 82,814. It advanced 0.38 per cent during the week.
Sectoral performance remained mixed during the week, with all major indices ending in the red. Nifty media was the worst performer, down 2.46 per cent on a weekly basis, followed by capital markets, down 2.44 per cent and IT, down 2.07 per cent.
Global risk sentiment has improved meaningfully after the US Supreme Court struck down a majority of President Donald Trump’s tariffs that were implemented under emergency powers.
The development buoyed global markets, with GIFT Nifty rising over 1 per cent, indicating the possibility of a gap-up opening for the Nifty at the start of the next week, analysts said.
Continued institutional support and improving momentum indicators will be critical in determining whether the current rebound evolves into a sustained uptrend.
On the domestic front, India’s Manufacturing and Services PMI climbed to 59.3 in February, marking the strongest reading in three months, driven by robust output growth and new orders, reflecting resilient demand conditions.
Further, India signed the US Pax Silica agreement, marking a notable development on the trade and strategic front.
Analysts said that immediate support for Nifty is seen at 25,350, followed by 25,200, and resistance is placed at 25,650 and 25,720.
Broader indices showed divergence from the benchmark indices during the week, as the Nifty Midcap100 gained 0.13 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap100 lost 0.18 per cent.
Globally, rising US-Iran tensions elevated geopolitical risks, pushing Brent crude higher to $71.8 per barrel, extending its three-day gain to 6.6 per cent and triggering risk-off sentiment across markets. This will be the key monitorable event in the near term and will provide direction to the market, market participants said.
The stock market is likely to consolidate next week, tracking the geopolitical development along with the key US tariff ruling, India-US trade deal and Q3 GDP data.
—IANS
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