Mumbai, Oct 18: The Indian equity benchmarks ended the week decisively higher amid short covering from foreign institutional investor (FII) participants and resilient domestic cues.

Market optimism was bolstered by clarity in the India–US trade relations, with both sides tentatively agreeing to conclude the first phase of the deal by November.

The sentiment remained upbeat as Bank Nifty achieved a new milestone, driven by robust buying interest in leading banking stocks. Investor confidence was buoyed by easing concerns around asset quality in the financial sector and expectations of improved volume growth in the festive quarter.

Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex rose 2.10 and 2.04 per cent during the week, with FMCG, pharma, and auto indices being the major contributors to the rally.

Analysts said that consumption-driven sectors also saw a surge along with a broad-based recovery across realty, healthcare, and banking.

IT stocks remained under pressure due to global discretionary spending concerns and mounting asset quality stress in the US banking system.

Profit booking was also seen in media, and metal stocks, which capped the overall upside of the indices.

The broader market, however, took a breather after a strong run-up, with Nifty Midcap 100 slipping 0.57 per cent and Nifty Small-cap 100 marginally down by 0.05 per cent, indicating selective profit taking by investors.

“Nifty on the weekly chart has formed a sizable bull candle with a higher high and higher low, signalling continuation of the up move. The index broke out above a three-month symmetrical triangle consolidation pattern, indicating a positive bias,” analysts from Bajaj Broking Research said.

They expect the index to head towards 25,900 and then towards 26,200 levels in the coming weeks.

In the holiday-led truncated Diwali week, investors are likely to remain cautious in view of the release of key economic data, such as US inflation, employment, and India’s PMI figures.

Investors are also keen on the cues from the ongoing earnings season and policy signals from major global central banks.

Mumbai: The Santacruz police have arrested a 31-year-old operations manager, Dinath Shetty, for allegedly embezzling Rs1.23 crore from Banana Leaf, a popular restaurant chain. Dinath, who managed five branches of the restaurant, was apprehended in Mangaluru and brought to Mumbai on a transit remand on October 15.

According to the FIR, Suraj Shetty, director of Malgudi Foods, which operates Banana Leaf restaurants across India, filed a complaint against Dinath in September 2024. As operations manager, Dinath was entrusted with overseeing accounts, rental agreements, procurement of goods, and equipment for the restaurant’s five branches. The FIR alleges that between January 9, 2024, and May 1, 2024, Dinath siphoned off over a crore while working at the Juhu Tara Road branch in Santacruz West. At the time, he resided in Mira Road East.

Following the registration of the case, Dinath went off the grid, switching off his mobile phone, halting banking transactions, and ceasing social media activity to evade detection. The breakthrough in the case came when the Santacruz police obtained a CIBIL TransUnion report, which revealed that Dinath had taken loans from at least 10 banks, including a car loan. Using the car’s registration number, the police traced the vehicle to Mangaluru, where it had been flagged for traffic violations.

With assistance from the Mangaluru police, a team led by investigation officer Sarad Jadhav, under the supervision of crime police inspector Chandrakant Kamble and senior police inspector Yogesh Shinde, conducted a two-day operation in Mangaluru. Their efforts culminated in Dinath’s arrest, and he was subsequently brought to Mumbai for a three-day transit remand.

A major fire broke out at a pharmaceutical company in Rabale MIDC early on Friday morning, reducing the entire premises to ashes. Fortunately, there were no casualties, police confirmed. Firefighters battled the blaze for nearly eight hours before bringing it under control, while cooling operations continued until the afternoon.

The fire erupted around 2 a.m. at Gel Pharmaceutical Company, located at plot R-952 in the Thane-Belapur Industrial Area, Rabale MIDC. Luckily, no workers were present at the time. However, large quantities of flammable chemicals stored in the unit caused the flames to spread rapidly and intensify within minutes.

Upon receiving the alert, the MIDC Fire Brigade rushed to the spot. Due to the scale of the blaze, additional fire tenders from Vashi, Koparkhairane, and Airoli fire stations were called in for assistance. Firefighters used a Bronto Skylift to tackle the fire from above and managed to bring it under control around 10 a.m., after eight hours of continuous efforts.

“Cooling operations were carried out until evening to prevent any re-ignition,” said a fire officer.

While the exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined, preliminary reports suggest that a short circuit might have triggered the blaze. The company premises were completely gutted in the incident, with losses yet to be assessed.