The index sprint was relentless. India's benchmark Nifty surged 8% across a single week, dragging beaten-down counters off their multi-month floors. Yet veteran fund manager Atul Suri refused to declare an outright bull market, characterizing the violent upswing as an aggressive short-covering squeeze rather than the start of a structural advance.
The headline projection, however, remains untouched. Suri, CEO of Marathon Trends PMS, reaffirmed his long-standing target of 30,800 for the Nifty by next Diwali. The market has ground through a punishing two-to-two-and-a-half-year time correction. But the tape is still stuck in phase one. Stocks parked at 52-week lows drove the immediate upside, while previous leaders took a backseat. Beaten-down information technology counters bounced last month before upward momentum vanished, and Reliance Industries snapped higher for a solitary session without subsequent follow-through.
These moves flash green on trading terminals. But they rarely generate lasting portfolio gains. "What matters for portfolios is the second stage," said Suri during a Muhurat trading market briefing. "That is when you look for sectors and stocks that are outperforming and making new 52-week highs ahead of the rest of the market. That is when the big money is made." Phase one belongs to trapped short-sellers scrambling to cover positions in beaten-down counters; phase two belongs to genuine institutional accumulation.
Suri is positioning capital behind a selective basket of high-conviction groups, led by broad-spectrum financials. The bet extends beyond tier-one commercial banks into capital market proxies, including asset management firms and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Pharma has already punched through resistance levels, flashing early technical strength ahead of other cyclicals. Automotive manufacturers also present an opening if crude oil prices retreat, supported by recent sales momentum. In technology, Suri sees contrarian entry points strictly in midcap IT counters as software clients deploy artificial intelligence tooling.
Precious metals demand a divided playbook. Gold has entered a defined consolidation band, creating a methodical accumulation window for long-term allocators rather than momentum chasers. Silver remains far more volatile—a vehicle engineered for tactical traders rather than defensive portfolios. As post-Diwali trading resumes, institutional desks will test whether buying spreads to fresh 52-week breakouts or stalls once short-covering volumes dry up.