After touching all-time highs for the prior seven consecutive sessions, the markets took a pause on Thursday as investors decided to book income. The Nifty declined 50.8 points (.38%) to close at 13,478.3 when the Sensex declined by 143.62 points (.31%) to close at 45,959.88.
Indian shares took cues from the Asian markets which have been below stress on Thursday. The bourses in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have been down amongst .23% and .33%. European markets have been rallying ahead of monetary policy announcement by the ECB, with stock markets in France, Germany, and the UK gaining amongst .1% and .5% in early trade.
However, FMCG stocks rallied and have been the leading gainers on the Nifty. This is for the reason that the sector has been witnessing renewed obtaining interest from investors. The Nifty FMCG index, the sole gainer amongst the sectoral indices, hit a 52-week higher of 34,122.5 and closed at 34,054.8. Buying in FMCG stocks also helped markets recover from its low levels.
Indian equities have been witnessing sectoral rotation in the final eight to nine months. Various sectors have outperformed and underperformed based on the market’s view about the effect of Covid-19 on the economy.
According to brokerages such as Kotak Institutional Equities, the sectoral rotation is basically a re-rating story for various sectors. In its report, Kotak stated, “The sequential ‘rotation’ is nothing but sequential re-rating of different sectors over the past nine months, linked to the market’s growing conviction about economic and earnings recovery and the negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic being far less severe than the market’s initial expectations in March 2020.”
Foreign portfolio investors on Thursday purchased stocks worth $301.3 million, provisional information show. Domestic institutional investors sold stocks worth $303.36 million. The futures and choices segment on NSE saw a turnover worth Rs 58.52 lakh crore and the money segment saw a turnover worth Rs 61,138.42 crore. This is against the six-month typical of Rs 59316 crore in the money industry and Rs 21.7 lakh crore in the futures and choices segment.
Big gainers on the Nifty have been Nestle India, ITC, Britannia Industries, Hindustan Unilever and Adani Ports and SEZ, up by 4.16%, 3.7%, 3.14%, 2.39% and 1.7%. Significant losers have been UPL, Ultratech Cement, Shree Cement, Tata Motors and M&M, down by 11.29%, 3.32%, 2.79%, 2.6% and 2.4%.