Indian equity benchmarks scaled fresh peaks on Friday with the Sensex index scaling the 60,000 level for the first time ever. IT and oil & gas shares propelled the market's fifth straight weekly gain, whereas metal and PSU banking shares played spoilsport.

Share Market Live

NSE

For the week, the Sensex index rose 1,032.6 points or 1.8 percent to 60,048.5, and the 50-member benchmark climbed 268.1 points to 17,853.2 -- both record closing highs.

ALSO READ

: A look at Sensex’s journey from 50,000 to 60,000

Broader indices underperformed the headline indices. The midcap index finished the week 0.8 percent higher while its smallcap counterpart gained 0.4 percent.

It was a week that began with nervousness among investors globally ahead of key central bank reviews. Even though the Federal Reserve sounded slightly hawkish, global markets took it well as there were no big surprises.

The US central bank revealed its intent to begin to trim its massive pandemic-era stimulus as soon as November and tighten the policy at a faster-than-expected pace. Most analysts said the announcements were along expected lines.

It was uncertainty around the financially-troubled Chinese developer Evergrande that spooked financial markets, as investors stared at a possible debt default that could send shockwaves to the global economy.

"Though the domestic market demonstrated a flattish trend in the beginning of the week due to global sentiments aided by concerns of central bank meetings and worries in the Chinese market, indices soared to close at record highs," said Vinor Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

ALSO READ: As Sensex surpasses 60,000 for first time, here’s what D-Street experts say

Among sectors, while IT was the biggest mover for both benchmarks, realty and media shares were in high demand. The Nifty Realty index rose 21.2 percent for the week, rising the most among NSE's sectoral gauges.

The Nifty Media index was next among top performers, rising 11.7 percent. The bourse's oil & gas index climbed up 1.1 percent.

On the other hand, The Nifty PSU Bank index was the worst hit, suffering a weekly loss of 4.4 percent. However, the overall banking pack barely moved, with the main index rising 0.1 percent. The Nifty Metal index dipped 3.3 percent.

"Realty stocks outperformed other sectors owing to an increase in property registrations, reduction in stamp duty (Karnataka) and home loan rates," said Nair.

Among blue-chip stocks, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, ONGC, Coal India and Bajaj Finance -- rising between 4.9 percent and 10 percent for the week -- were the top gainers. On the other hand, Tata Steel, BPCL, Tata Consumer, Shree Cements and JSW Steel, finishing the week between 3.4 percent and 8.2 percent lower, were the worst hit among the 21 laggards in the 50-scrip index.

Nifty gainers

ALSO READ: As Sensex roars to 60,000, Ramdeo Agarwal’s word of caution

Nifty losers

In the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices, Godrej Properties, Oberoi Realty, Zee Entertainment and Gujarat Narmada -- rising between 21.3 percent and 34.5 percent -- were among the gainers. On the flipside, Dalmia Bharat, CESC, Lux Industries and JK Lakshmi, logging weekly cuts of 6.8-9.1 percent, were among the losers.

A total of 295 stocks on BSE 500 -- the broadest gauge on the bourse -- declined for the week.

Nair expects profit booking in the mid- and small-cap segments to continue in the short term.

The road ahead

Analysts await PMI data on manufacturing in the country for domestic cues in the coming week.

"The market is bound to track global cues for direction. The manufacturing PMI reading for September will help in forming a view on business activities during the month," said Nair.

Monthly sales reports from auto manufacturers starting Friday will be tracked for activity in a sector struggling against a global shortage of semiconductors.

"Considering the increased concerns around chip shortage and the resultant dampened sales prospects, monthly sales numbers of the automobile sector are sure to grab eyeballs to determine a future trend in auto stocks," said Samco Securities.

Globally, news flow from China Evergrande will also be monitored.