Nifty Notches Best Win Streak, AI Takes Spotlight At RIL AGM, Q1 GDP Slows And More — The Week That Was

India's equity markets once again grabbed headlines this week with the 50-stock gauge— NSE Nifty 50—marking a rally like never before. However, overseas investors on the driver's seat in the primary rather than the secondary market.

The week that ended also saw India's most valuable company announce a bonus issue with its chairman holding a special focus on artificial intelligence. The frenzy in India's initial public offerings also took centre stage during the week.

India's gross domestic product for the first quarter grew at the slowest pace in five quarters.

NDTV Profit, in its weekly news wrap every Friday, brings you the mega events across businesses, industries and countries that have impacted investors' wealth.

India's benchmark stock indices extended their record gains on Friday to close with the best weekly gains in 12 weeks. Nifty 50 powered ahead with its best winning steak since its inception in 1996 after rising for the 12th consecutive session.

The last 12-day rally for the gauge was recorded in November 1993, before the index was launched.

Both the Nifty 50 and the 30-stock Sensex rose as much as 0.42% and 0.61% to hit a fresh high of 25,258.8 and 82,637.03, respectively, on Friday.

But, the market valuations may not have peaked just yet. Indian markets may sustain their current momentum going forward as valuations have not yet peaked, according to Nilesh Shah, managing director, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co.

They are expensive in some low-floating counters. Indian markets have 25% froth and 75% provide opportunities for long-term investors, Shah told NDTV Profit in an interview.

India's benchmark indices—the NSE Nifty 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex—have risen 16% and 14% respectively so far this year, making them the fifth and sixth best-performing Asian indices.

The mid-cap benchmark is valued over Nifty 50 and the small-cap stocks, continue to gain more despite froth concerns. The price-to-equity ratio of the Nifty is valued at 24.6, while that of the small-cap and the mid-cap index is at 33.6 and 45.8, respectively.

Artificial intelligence took centre stage in the 47th annual general meeting of India's most valuable company, but as expected, the conglomerate did not shed any details on the listings of its retail and telecom units.

Reliance Industries Ltd. has embedded innovative technologies in every single business, billionaire and chairman, Mukesh Ambani said. "Deep tech and advanced manufacturing to drive RIL into top-30 companies of the world in the near future."

In the marathon two-hour speech, Ambani mentioned AI more than 80 times, according to Bloomberg.

The oil-to-chemical conglomerate will consider a 1:1 bonus issue on Sept. 5, it said in an exchange filing just ahead of the AGM on Friday. But, shares of most companies belonging to the Reliance Industries Ltd. group failed to gain momentum on Friday, despite a bonus share issuance announcement and double growth guidance.

Click the link below for top 10 highlights from Ambani's speech at the RIL AGM 2024:

India's gross domestic product grew at the slowest pace in five quarters, even as GVA growth saw a pick up.

The gross domestic product grew 6.7% in the April-June quarter, lower than 7.8% in the January-March 2024 quarter and 8.2% in the year-ago period, according to the latest estimates released by the government's statistical office on Friday.

Gross value added, which strips out indirect tax and subsidies, is estimated to have grown 6.8% as compared with 6.3% in the preceding quarter. GDP was estimated to grow 6.8% in the first quarter, according to economists polled by Bloomberg. GVA growth was pegged at 6.5%.

The index of eight core industries grew by 6.1% in July, as compared to 4% in June, on an annual basis.

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Market debuts of small companies have garnered immense investor interest for retail investors despite a significantly large ticket size, ultimately fueling the ongoing frenzy.

As per regulation, the minimum application as well as trading lot size shall not be less than Rs 1 lakh for IPOs on the SME segment of National Stock Exchange and BSE.

But, this seems to not be a big deal for retail investor going by their participation in these IPOs. For instance, HOAC Foods' IPO was oversubscribed 1,834 times, while Magenta Lifecare's offering was oversubscribed 932 times.

“In 2019-20, the average number of retail applications per SME IPO was just 408. Fast forward to the current fiscal year, and this number has surged to 213,000 applications per IPO, on an average," according to Pranav Haldea, chief executive officer of Prime Database.

Despite the high oversubscription figures and initial listing gains, there is a notable trend of prices falling shortly after listing.