Despite heightening geopolitical tensions, the Indian stock market made a strong recovery in Friday’s session, November 29, with strong support from heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, and ICICI Bank helping the frontline indices finish the last trading day of November in positive territory.

The Nifty 50 ended the session with a gain of 0.91%, closing at 24,131, while the Sensex rallied by 0.91%, finishing at 79,760. However, the broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose by 0.15%, closing at 56,384, while the Nifty SmallCap 100 ended the session with a 0.75% gain, at 18,649, compared to the previous closing.

Although heavyweights supported the benchmark indices in the final trading session, they weren’t enough to push November’s performance into the green. Both the Nifty 50 and Sensex ended the month with a drop of up to 0.5%, though the pace of selling slowed compared to October, when both indices fell over 6%, marking their steepest monthly drop since March 2020.

Additionally, November was the most volatile month for both the indices since June. The Nifty 50 swung by 1,274 points, while the Sensex fluctuated by 3,767 points.

Sectoral Performance: Pharma shines, realty lags

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma emerged as the top performer with a gain of 2.35%, breaking its 3-day losing streak. Nineteen of the 20 constituents of the index ended the session higher, with Torrent Pharma leading the way, rallying by 4%. Divi’s Laboratories, Alkem Laboratories, Natco Pharma, and three other stocks also closed with gains between 3% and 4%.

Cipla shares jumped nearly 3% after domestic brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher upgraded the stock to a ‘buy’ rating and raised its target price by 7% to ₹1,730. The brokerage highlighted Cipla’s strong U.S. portfolio, including respiratory drugs, injectables, and peptides, as well as new product launches expected to drive $1 billion in sales by FY27. 

The timely launch of cancer drug Abraxane and asthma drug Advair could yield annual sales of $100-120 million amid limited competition, it said. Other sectoral indices, including Nifty Media, Nifty Energy, Nifty Oil & Gas, and Nifty Consumer Durables, ended the session with gains exceeding 1%.

On the losing side, Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank closed with losses of 0.59% and 0.56%, respectively.