Finance
Indian equities battled once more to get traction, with large falls in FMCG and real estate firms dragging the main indices to a flat close. While banking equities, particularly those from the public sector, helped to boost the market, they were inadequate to drive the indices higher.
The Nifty 50 closed the session down 0.15% at 24,399, while the Sensex down only 0.02% to 80,065. 24 Nifty 50 companies closed in the negative region, topped by HUL, which fell over 6%.
Other significant laggards included SBI Life Insurance, Hindalco Industries, Nestle India, Bajaj Auto, Britannia Industries, ITC, Tata Consumer, Maruti Suzuki, and HDFC Life Insurance, all of which reported losses greater than 1%.
Meanwhile, mid and small-cap stocks struggled to continue their momentum after a robust recovery in the previous trading session. Both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices closed lower, down 0.32% and 0.20%, respectively.
During today’s session, 13 members of the Nifty FMCG index fell in value, bringing the index down by 2.83% to 58,396 points. This loss pushed the index to its lowest level since early July. Since reaching a record high of 66,438 points, the index has fallen by 12%.
Among other sectoral sectors, the Nifty Realty index dropped 1.13%, while the Nifty Auto index lost 0.52%.
Banking stocks continued to rise, led by public sector banks. Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, and State Bank of India all saw gains of up to 3%.
Private sector banks also experienced moderate gains, with HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and IndusInd Bank increasing by 0.2% to 0.7%. The Nifty Bank index closed up 0.35%. Nifty Pharma recovered with a 0.44% gain in today’s session, snapping a three-day losing run.
Source:Mint
