The benchmark Nifty 50 surged 493 points on Friday to close decisively above 25,000, completing a seven-day winning streak on Dalal Street. The advance locked in an 8.58% surge—or nearly 1,977 points—for the week, marking the index's strongest five-day performance in five years. Foreign institutional capital poured into large-cap counters ahead of Sunday's special Muhurat trading session, overriding global macro jitters and lifting frontline equities into a sharp vertical breakout.
Mahindra & Mahindra and ICICI Bank steered the charge, absorbing heavy buying through the afternoon trade. Yet the rally remained top-heavy. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Eicher Motors lagged, while broader indices failed to track the headline sprint. The Nifty Midcap 100 closed flat, sliding 0.02%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 slipped 0.82% as retail desks booked profits. Across sectors, Pharma and Consumer Durables paced gains, leaving Nifty Media as the solitary sectoral loser.
Technical desks warned that while upside momentum remains intact, indicators have pushed deep into overbought territory. Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities, noted that the underlying index trend remains positive, setting an immediate upside target of 25,500 with initial floor support stationed at 24,750. Angel One analyst Osho Krishan pointed out that the benchmark cleared its 200-day simple moving average and major exponential moving averages in a single burst, meaning intermittent consolidation would stabilize the trend.
"The index has staged a sharp vertical rally, decisively moving above all its key exponential moving averages as well as the 200-day simple moving average," Krishan stated, marking 24,770 to 24,500 as the primary safety net and 25,150 as the immediate resistance zone. Sudeep Shah of SBI Securities flagged resistance at 25,150 to 25,180, adding that a clean push above that band opens the gates toward 25,350. Support on any intraday slide rests at 24,830.
Traders now turn their focus to weekend earnings updates before the festive bell rings on Sunday. Pharma major Divi's Laboratories, Tata Steel, HBL Engineering, and Tata Chemicals will disclose second-quarter performance numbers, providing fresh valuation benchmarks for Monday's full-day tape. Monday's roster also brings quarterly results from Park Medi World, R M Drip and Sprinkler Systems, Nicco Parks and Resorts, and Medico Remedies, testing whether corporate margins can justify the frontline's historic weekly sprint.