Nifty, Sensex shed 0.5% as market patiently waits for lockdown-related updates

Nifty and Sensex were seen treading in the choppy waters during Wednesday’s trade and closed 0.5% below by the end of the day. Both markets successfully retained yesterday’s remarkable pullback and ended with a minor correction. However, the entire market is now all ears for lockdown-related updates and this weighed down upon the investor sentiment.

A Rally in Pharma

As India has lifted export-related curbs on 24 drugs, its positive impact could be seen on the Indian Pharma sector. The manufacturing of essential drugs, including hydroxychloroquine, has been ramped up with a steady supply of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). The Nifty Pharma index rallied by 3.54% today while S&P BSE Healthcare also increased by 3.85%. The rally supported both markets and kept them afloat as FMCG and IT stocks took the beating.

Consumer Durables bear the brunt amid market uncertainty:

The market uncertainty has kept consumer durables at the receiving end. Several states are today requesting the central leadership to extend the lockdown beyond 14th of April. A few of them, such as Punjab, have already extended the same. The graph of coronavirus cases is currently showing a steep rise and the possibility of lockdown extension is highly likely. The extension will only increase the unease of the consumer durable segment. Today, stocks like PC Jeweller and Titan fell by 4.94% and 3.47% respectively at BSE.

Auto and FMCG go green

The Auto Segment showed a strong growth on Wednesday as well. Ashok Leyland rallied by 10.04%, TVS Motor by 8.13%, and Bharat Forge by 5.97% at NSE. A few stocks like Bajaj Auto and MRF also ended up in the red. FMCG, on the other hand, also extended gains. In Nifty FMCG, Emami and Godrej Consumer remained bullish with 7.36% while other key FMCG players including P&G, Tata Global Beverages, Dabur India, and United Spirits also extended gains between 2% and 5%. Britannia Industries, ITC, and United Breweries closed about 1% to 2% below.

Most Active Stocks:

Idea Cellular, Tata Motors, and SBI drove the volume today. Ashok Leyland was also heavily traded with its early gains. Banking stocks were also traded in large volumes, however, extended mixed results and largely traded in the sideway direction. Bandhan Bank rallied by over 15.84% in the Nifty Bank index while ICICI Bank and Federal Bank ended 2.19% and 4.33% lower than the previous day’s close.- By : Mr. Aamar Deo Singh, Head Advisory, Angel Broking Ltd