Stock market today: Nifty 50, Sensex surge over 1% on gains in RIL, Airtel & pharma stocks

Stock market today: Despite heightening geopolitical tensions, the Indian stock market made a strong recovery on Friday, November 29 as strong support from heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, and ICICI Bank helped the frontline indices finish the last trading day of November in positive territory.

The Nifty 50 ended the session with a gain of 0.91%, closing at 24,131, while the Sensex rallied by 0.96%, finishing at 79,802. However, the broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose by 0.16%, closing at 56,392, while the Nifty SmallCap 100 ended the session with a 0.75% gain at 18,650, compared to the previous closing.

While buying in heavyweights supported the benchmark indices in the final trading session, it wasn’t enough to push November’s performance into the green. Both the Nifty 50 and Sensex ended the month with a drop of up to 0.5%, though the pace of selling slowed compared to October, when both indices fell over 6%, their steepest monthly drop since March 2020.

Additionally, November was the second most volatile month for both indices since June. The Nifty 50 swung by 1,274 points, while the Sensex fluctuated by 3,767 points.

Commenting on today’s market performance, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said, “A large-cap-driven, broad-based rally ensued in the domestic market. Discretionary sectors performed well, benefiting from the festive season. The pharma and healthcare sectors saw renewed growth, supported by strong earnings and a moderation in valuations after recent corrections.”

“Additionally, the anticipated slowdown in India’s Q2 GDP to 6.5% has already been reflected in Q2 corporate earnings, which the market appears to have discounted. Meanwhile, global sentiment remained subdued due to the appreciation of the Japanese yen, as inflation stayed above the central bank’s tolerance level,” he added. 

Sectoral Performance: Pharma shines, realty lags

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma emerged as the top performer with a gain of 2.35%, breaking its three-day losing streak. 19 of the 20 constituents of the index ended the session higher, with Torrent Pharma leading the way, rallying 4%. Divi’s Laboratories, Alkem Laboratories, Natco Pharma, and three other stocks also closed with gains between 3% and 4%.

Cipla shares jumped nearly 3% after domestic brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ and raised its target price by 7% to ₹1,730. The brokerage highlighted Cipla’s strong U.S. portfolio, including respiratory drugs, injectables, and peptides, as well as new product launches, which are expected to drive sales by $1 billion by FY27.

The timely launch of cancer drug Abraxane and asthma drug Advair could yield annual sales of $100-120 million amid limited competition, it said. 

Other sectoral indices, including Nifty Media, Nifty Energy, Nifty Oil & Gas, and Nifty Consumer Durables, ended the session with gains exceeding 1%. On the losing side, Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank closed with losses of 0.59% and 0.56%, respectively.

44 stocks end in green

Out of the 50 Nifty constituents, 44 closed the session in the green, with Bharti Airtel emerging as the top performer, gaining 4.3%. Other notable gainers included Cipla, Sun Pharmaceutical, M&M, Tata Consumer Products, UltraTech Cement, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, and 13 other stocks, which rose by between 1% and 3%.

Adani Group stocks continued their stellar rally for the third straight session. Two of the group’s stocks, including Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions, surged sharply by 21.8% and 15.6%, respectively, as both stocks began trading within the Futures & Options (F&O) segment on Friday, November 29.

Adani Total Gas also entered the F&O segment along with the other two stocks. These three are among the 45 stocks that will now have futures and options contracts from Friday, marking the start of the December F&O series.

The relief rally in the group stocks followed a clarification issued by Adani Green on Wednesday. The company stated that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vineet Jain have not been charged with any violation of the FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) in the counts outlined in the indictment by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) or the civil complaint by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Can today’s momentum carry over into December?

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd said, “The Indian market is increasingly witnessing severe bouts of volatile trading, as the gyration from positive to negative zones has been very sharp owing to stretched valuation concerns and the lingering selloffs from foreign investors. Despite the recovery, there is no firm trend visible due to a lack of fresh positive triggers. For the up move to sustain, FII offloading of Indian shares needs to cool down before we see any signs of an upward bias.”

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.