Weekly Market Wrap - NIFTY 50 Logs Biggest Weekly Gain Since 2021

21 Apr 2025 , 01:44 PM

The NIFTY 50 posted its strongest weekly performance in years, gaining 4.48% as multiple sectors saw strong bullish momentum. Broad-based buying, particularly in financial stocks, drove the rally—IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank surged over 15% and 11%, respectively. Sectors like NIFTY BANK and NIFTY REALTY significantly outperformed the broader market. However, the IT sector lagged behind due to global headwinds and weak earnings from Wipro. Positive global cues and steady foreign institutional inflows continued to support market sentiment, despite a few sector-specific challenges.

NIFTY 50

＄NIFTY 50 – Strongest weekly gain in years

date	Open	high	low	close
2025-04-15	23368.3	23368.3	23207.0	23328.6
2025-04-16	23344.1	23452.2	23273.1	23437.2
2025-04-17	23401.8	23872.3	23298.6	23851.7

Weekly Performance: 4.5%

NIFTY 50 shares were on a winning streak amidst a holiday-shortened week as they climbed 4.48%. It logged its biggest weekly gain since February 2021, spurred by widespread buying across sectors. The financial stocks were the trendsetters with IndusInd Bank jumping 15.26% and Axis Bank up 11.4%.  Among others, the top gainers were Shriram Finance, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel. Only one of the 50 constituents — Wipro — dropped, falling 1.19%. Strong foreign institutional inflows, good global cues and possible short covering supported the rally. Among other results, Axis Bank’s upcoming result remains the key event to focus for the week.​

 

NIFTY MIDCAP SELECT

＄NIFTY MIDCAP SELECT – Rallies with the market

date	open	High	low	close
2025-04-15	11440.5	11564.8	11366.6	11540.8
2025-04-16	11566.5	11593.5	11484.0	11566.9
2025-04-17	11540.9	11677.8	11488.3	11668.2

Weekly Performance: 3.9%

The NIFTY MIDCAP SELECT was up 3.94% last week and slightly underperformed the broader NIFTY 50. There were stock specific rallies with some stocks witnessing significant gains. Auropharma and Policybazaar were the top gainers with 8.24% and 7.82% returns. These were followed by Dixon, BHEL, and Bharat Forge with 7.14%, 6.77%, and 6.59% returns. The losers were Lupin and Max Health declined by 1.63% and 0.45%, respectively. With 22 advances and only 2 declines, the index saw a significant bullish momentum.

NIFTY IT

＄NIFTY IT – IT Sector faces challenges amidst market gains

date	open	high	low	close
2025-04-15	33504.1	33520.6	32932.9	33275.3
2025-04-16	33215.9	33387.4	32867.9	33295.5
2025-04-17	32832.6	33471.6	32470.9	33372.4

Weekly Performance: 1.9%

Last week, the NIFTY IT Index experienced a modest gain of 1.9%, underperforming the broader NIFTY 50 Index, which rose by 4% over the same period. The IT sector faced headwinds, notably from Wipro, whose shares declined by 5.5% following a disappointing Q4 revenue report. The upcoming week could continue to see headwinds as Infosys delivered a weak set of results. Despite these challenges, the index had many gainers. Top gainers included Persistent Systems, which rose by 6.41%, followed by Mphasis, OFSS, Coforge, and HCL Technologies, with gains ranging from 5.24% to 3.41%. Overall, the sector’s performance has been weak amidst tarriff headwinds despite the rally in broader markets.

 

NIFTY AUTO

＄NIFTY AUTO – A rebound performance after two consecutive weeks of declines.

date	open	high	low	close
2025-04-15	21023.9	21276.3	20929.8	21246.2
2025-04-16	21280.3	21283.1	21058.6	21155.8
2025-04-17	21152.0	21414.6	20953.1	21373.1

Weekly Performance: 4.0%

NIFTY AUTO Index added 4.01% last week against NIFTY 50’s 4.48%. Among the biggest gainers, Motherson was up 9.68%, MRF rose 7.6%, Balkrishna Industries gained 7.12%, while TVS Motor and Bharat Forge added 6.6% and 6.59%, respectively. On the contrary, TI India was the sole loser, down 0.55%. There were also 14 advances and 1 decline on the index, being extended a strong plus sign.  Additionally, it’s worth noting that this week marks a turn-around from the negative performance of the past two weeks.

 

NIFTY BANK

＄NIFTY BANK – Outperforms NIFTY on broadbased gains

date	open	High	low	close
2025-04-15	52299.0	52486.4	51863.3	52379.5
2025-04-16	52690.9	53164.4	52471.4	53117.8
2025-04-17	53153.8	54407.2	53084.9	54290.2

Weekly Performance: 6.4%

The NIFTY BANK Index beat the benchmark NIFTY 50, with a 6.45% price change, vs. 4.48%, last week. Top gainers include IndusInd Bank at 15.26%; Axis Bank at 11.4%; ICICI Bank at 7.25%, Canara Bank at 6.05% and SBI with a gain of 5.78%. IndusInd Bank’s strong showing was likely propelled by news on lesser hit to its net worth from its derivative portfolio. All the index stocks advanced indicative a very positive action for the index. Also, two of the last 12 weeks have produced average daily returns in the top 10%, signalling strong weekly gains.

Here are a few reasons behind the outsized moves in the Banking stocks:

• Reduced interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to 6% from 6.5%, reducing the cost of borrowing.
• Growth in credit to improve within the financial system as a result of the back-to-back rate cuts by the RBI, coupled with higher income tax exemption limit.
• A lowering retail inflation, which fell to a multi-year low of 3.34% in March.

 

NIFTY ENERGY

＄NIFTY ENERGY – Rides Momentum with Broad-Based Gains

date	open	High	low	close
2025-04-15	33033.2	33182.4	32811.4	33106.6
2025-04-16	33081.1	33482.3	33004.2	33456.9
2025-04-17	33432.6	33877.3	33178.9	33797.5

Weekly Performance: 4.3%

NIFTY ENERGY index gained 4.28% last week, almost inline with NIFTY’s 4.48%. Hitachi Energy was the highest gainer, up 10.24%, Thermax GAIL, ABB and CG Power were up between 8.29% and 10.01%. MGL and GSPL trailed as the top losers, falling 2.03% and 0.21%, each. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones, 38 to 2 – indicating broadbased gains. CG Power is one of the top performers in this space in India over the last five years and continues to do extremely well. ABB rally was likely driven by reports of a potential spinoff of its robotics division, boosting investor sentiment.

 

NIFTY FMCG

＄NIFTY FMCG – Sustained gains but underperformed NIFTY last week

date	open	High	low	close
2025-04-15	56620.1	56620.5	55537.1	55896.9
2025-04-16	55694.6	56435.9	55694.6	56345.6
2025-04-17	56303.1	56728.3	56008.6	56674.2

Weekly Performance: 1.7%

The NIFTY FMCG index posted a 1.67% price change last week, underperforming the broader market as the NIFTY 50 index rose 4.48% over the same period. Notable gainers in the FMCG space include United Breweries, Patanjali, Radico Khaitan, Dabur, and Colgate Palmolive, with gains ranging from 3.16% to 6.33%. The index has now closed positive for three consecutive weeks, with a cumulative gain of 5.2% during this period. The underperformance is likely due to sector rotation, as investors shifted focus to faster-growing or previously underperforming sectors.

 

NIFTY PHARMA

＄NIFTY PHARMA – A modest rally after two weeks of losses

date	Open	high	low	close
2025-04-15	20823.2	20957.2	20665.2	20912.2
2025-04-16	20844.3	20972.1	20768.2	20874.3
2025-04-17	20886.7	21166.7	20862.8	21126.8

Weekly Performance: 3.2%

The Nifty Pharma Index was up 3.25% last week and lagged behind the Nifty 50. While the underperformance continued, it reported a positive week after two consecutive weeks of losses. Mankind Pharma topped the list with a jump of 9.83%, followed by Aurobindo Pharma, Natco Pharma, IPCA Laboratories and Ajanta Pharma with gains of 8.24%, 6.72%, 5.52% and 5.04% respectively. On the contrary, the top loser was Zydus Lifesciences, which fell 4.29%. The index saw 17 advancing to 3 declining. Pharma sector stocks are under pressure as the trade war escalates between the US and China.

 

NIFTY REALTY

＄NIFTY REALTY – Significant turnaround as investors flock back

date	Open	high	low	close
2025-04-15	808.0	836.3	803.6	834.8
2025-04-16	839.3	843.4	833.2	840.8
2025-04-17	841.2	848.3	837.1	845.1

Weekly Performance: 7.0%

Last week the NIFTY REALTY index gave a return of 6.95% as compared to NIFTY 50’s 4.48% price change. The top gainers were Lodha at 10.11%, Phoenix Ltd 9.25%, Prestige 8.22%, Anant Raj 7.43%, and DLF 7.34%. Notably, all session in the NIFTY REALTY index were some shades of green, with zero session being red, reflecting the sector’s strength. The index has been up since closing lower for two weeks in a row before this week.