Thursday’s trading session can be categorised into two halves. The first half is until 2 PM, and the second half post that. Post 2 PM, it was a one-way move for the market. Until then, the Nifty, which struggled to cross 25,000 for the better part of the day, crossed 25,200, 25,300 and even made a new record high of 25,433, all within a span of 90 minutes.

The weekly options expiry of the Nifty 50 contracts triggered a sharp short covering move, led by banking stocks. Another trigger may have been the nearly ₹3 lakh crore that were blocked for the Bajaj Housing Finance IPO. Freeing up of that capital could have also led to this upmove. You can read more on that here.

All 50 Nifty constituents ended with gains on Thursday. The broad-based move was evident as the top three point contributors on the index – Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank, contributed to only 26% of the Nifty’s gains. You can read more on the top Nifty gainers here.

The rise in global metal prices aided the metal stock rally, while PSUs, including PSU Banks, the underperformers in recent times, saw some bit of relief coming in at lower levels. However, there were stock-specific losers in an otherwise frenzied market. Stocks like Granules India fell 16% on regulatory fears, while Honasa Consumer fell 5% after a large trade.

With the index now in blue sky territory, it is difficult to determine the next levels of upsides for the index. Of course, Thursday’s high of 25,433 will be the first level to watch. But the bulls will be determined to end the week on a high and take the Nifty past the 25,500 mark.

For the week, the Nifty is now up over 2% and is poised for its best weekly performance since June. The index is also set to gain in four out of the last five weeks.

Foreign institutions were heavy buyers in the cash market on Thursday, while domestic institutions chose to book some profits at higher levels.

The sharp upside breakout on Thursday is indicating more upside for the market ahead, said Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities. He said that the next upside level to watch will be 25,800 by next week. Immediate support is at 25,200 levels.

Rupak De of LKP Securities said that the Nifty RSI on the daily chart shows a bullish crossover, reinforcing the positive sentiment. He expects the move to continue towards 25,470 – 25,500 levels, while support on the downside is at 25,100.

Sanctum Wealth’s Aditya Agarwal believes that the short-term Nifty view is bullish and dips towards 25,300 – 25,180 will be used to initiate fresh long positions. However, he expects some minor profit booking at levels of 25,500.

It was the upmove in the Nifty Bank that first triggered the move on the Nifty before other heavyweights began to contribute to the rally. For an index, that was perched at the 51,000 levels on the downside before trading began on Thursday, saw a 750 point recovery from the day’s low, and enroute, conquered all the resistance levels that were capping the index upside.

For the week, the Nifty Bank too is up 2.2% and is set for its best week since June.

Om Mehra of SAMCO Securities said that the Nifty Bank is now displaying higher highs and higher lows on the daily chart and has stabilised above the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. The support has now shifted to levels of 51,400, while the next leg of resistance comes in the 52,000 – 52,100 range.

What Are The F&O Cues Indicating?

These stocks saw addition of fresh long positions on Thursday, meaning an increase in both price and Open Interest:

Stock	Price Change	OI Change
Bajaj Auto	2.50%	18.99%
Page Industries	3.21%	14.33%
Bharti Airtel	3.77%	13.47%
Hindustan Unilever	1.40%	11.81%
Can Fin Homes	5.40%	11.62%

Fresh short positions were seen in Granules India, whose shares fell 16% on Thursday and its Open Interest increased by 121%. Fresh short positions mean an increase in Open Interest but a decline in the price of a stock.

Short covering was seen in these names on Thursday, meaning an increase in price but a decline in Open Interest:

Stock	Price Change	OI Change
Vodafone Idea	3.12%	-93.91%
SBI	2.02%	-5.60%
ABB India	2.05%	-4.80%
IPCA Labs	1.28%	-4.63%
Muthoot Finance	1.90%	-3.59%

These are the stocks to watch out for ahead of Friday’s trading session:

• BPCL: Approves JV Agreement with Sembcorp Green Hydrogen India for Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen. The board has approved the JV Agreement with GPS Renewables as well for Compressed Biogas plants across India. The company also will increase the capacity of the Cochin-Coimbatore-Karur Pipeline and Irugur-Devangothi pipeline by 3.7 MTPA and 1.1 MTPA respectively at an investment of ₹1,138 crore.
• Tata Power: Tata Power Renewable and Tata Motors sign MoU to set up 200 fast-charging stations for Electric Commercial Vehicles.
• BLS International: Arm BLS International FZE to acquire 100% stake in UAE-based Citizenship Invest DMCC for $31 million.
• SBI Card: To consider raising funds worth up to ₹5,000 crore via NCDs on September 18.
• Patanjali Foods: Group firms likely to raise up to $240 million via block deals. Floor price has been fixed at ₹1,815 per share.
• HG Infra: Wins ₹716 crore order from Central railway.
• Puravankara: Signs joint development agreement for a 1.95 acre land parcel in Bengaluru. It has acquired the redevelopment rights of Miami Apartments at Breach Candy in Mumbai.