Sensex ends marginally higher, Nifty stays below 14,700; FMCG stocks shine

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex settled marginally higher following a volatile session on Friday as concerns over the economic impact of the second wave of Covid-19 and pace of vaccination weighed on investor sentiment.

The 30-share barometer ended 41.75 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 48,732.55, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 18.70 points or 0.13 per cent to 14,677.80. Most sectoral indices on the NSE settled in the red. Nifty Metal ending nearly 4% lower was the top sectoral laggard followed by Nifty Realty, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Auto. Bucking the trend, Nifty FMCG ended over 2% higher.

Asian Paints was the top Sensex gainer, rallying over 8 per cent, followed by ITC, Nestle India, L&T, HUL and Reliance Industries. IndusInd Bank, M&M, Dr Reddy’s, SBI and NTPC were among the laggards on the other hand

“Indian equity markets remained largely range bound over the last week. The COVID situation in India is no doubt grim and hence the health issue is something that could keep markets volatile in the near term,” said Shibani Kurian, Senior EVP & Head- Equity Research, Kotak Mahindra AMC.

Going forward, market will likely track the pace of vaccinations, trajectory of active cases curve and management commentary of companies. Rollback of localised lockdowns and trend of inflation in many global commodities like crude oil and steel will be other key factors to watch out for, she noted.

Global Markets
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Friday, following overnight gains in the US stock market. Wall Street ended sharply higher at the close of a broad rally on Thursday, bouncing back from three straight days of selling on upbeat labor market data.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note. Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.92 per cent higher at $67.67 per barrel.