Sectoral weekly recap: NIFTY & SENSEX rise for a third consecutive week; Defence, Oil & Gas emerge as top gainers

The Benchmark indices closed in green for the third consecutive week. The NIFTY50 and SENSEX gained 1.2% and 1.6% respectively. Despite the rally, the index continued to trade in a broader range amid rising tensions over the India-Pakistan standoff. The key driving factors for this week's market rally were as follows.

India’s industrial growth, measured in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), picked up to 3.0% in March 2025 from 2.7% in the previous month, with growth in manufacturing and electricity generation.

The net direct tax collection for the financial year 2024-25 has grown by 13.57% to over ₹ 22.26 lakh crore. However, due to the issuance of the highest-ever amount of refunds, it has narrowly missed the target of ₹22.37 crore set by the government.

The Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection increased by 12% in April, reaching to an all-time high of ₹2.37 lakh crore. According to the government data, total gross GST revenue was ₹2.10 lakh crore in April of the current year.

The Nifty surged 307.35 points or 1.28% to 24,346.70. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Nifty IT was up by 329.60 points or 0.93% to 35,891.85, Bank Nifty was up by 451.30 points or 0.83% to 55,115.35, Nifty Mid Cap 100 increased 134.90 points or 0.25% to 53,705.10 and Nifty Next 50 gained 114.85 points or 0.18% to 64,429.75.

NIFTY India Defence

Shares of India’s leading defence companies rallied the most as optimism around defence orders gained traction due to rising geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan. Shares of companies like Paras Defence, Garden Reach Shipbuilders, Data Patterns, and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders rallied in the range of 15-30% during the week. The NIFTY India defence index collectively gained 6% for the week.

NIFTY OIL & Gas

Shares of leading oil refineries rallied the most during this week, collectively leading to a 4.4% rally in the Oil & Gas index. Shares of Reliance Industries, Indraprastha Gas, Indian Oil Corporation and Mahanagar Gas rallied up to 9% for the week, primarily due to optimism around Q4 earnings.

NIFTY Realty

The benchmark for the realty sector rallied 2.6% for the week with strong gains in major realtors like Prestige Estate Projects, Godrej Properties, DLF, and Sobha Ltd. Godrej Properties reported a 93% jump in net profit for FY25 at ₹1,389 crore, driving optimism around the real estate stocks.

Apart from the above mentioned sectors, NIFTY Auto, IT, Infrastructure,Healthcare and others also gained up to 2% for the week. On the flipside, NIFTY Metal, FMCG, and Metals were the top sectoral losers with losses of up to 2.5% for the week.