Week in 10 charts: Robust earnings, easing crude prices push market higher; rupee gains 1% versus the dollar

Sometimes in the stock market, the riskiest bets return the highest. Moneycontrol analysed penny stocks which have turned multibaggers since the start of the September quarter when many economic activities resumed after a complete lockdown to combat coronavirus spread. We screened BSE universe stocks which were trading below Rs 20 per share on June 30, 2020, and have now gained over 100 percent as of November 20, 2020. We considered only companies with a market-cap of over Rs 100 crore. Interestingly, 9 stocks have made the cut.

Bulls reigned supreme in the market as the Nifty and Sensex rose 5 percent each week-on-week, amid positive earnings from India Inc, falling crude prices, rupee appreciation versus the dollar and easing trade war concerns between the US and China.

The Sensex rose 5 percent this week, or 1,662 points, to ending at 35,011.65. The Nifty surged 5.2 percent, or 523 points, to close at 10,553.

HDFC (21.77 percent) was the major contributor to the Nifty's gain followed by HDFC Bank (16.45 percent), Reliance Industries (13.21 percent), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC, 12.62 percent) and Maruti Suzuki (11.70 percent).

On a weekly basis, the rupee gained over a percent against the dollar as it ended Friday (November 2) higher by over a rupee at 72.43. Last Friday, the rupee ended at 73.46 against the dollar.

Volatility index (India VIX) was down 5.2 percent this week, while the largecap index rose 5.3 percent. Midcap and smallcap indices gained 7.3 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.

The Nifty PSU Bank has outperformed other sectoral indices with a gain of 13.6 percent during the week.

On the BSE, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) gained the most in terms of market value, followed by State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro (L&T).