Mumbai, Aug 21: Indian equity indices closed in the green on Wednesday following a rally in FMCG stocks like HUL and ITC. At closing, Sensex ended 102 points, or 0.13 per cent, higher at 80,905 and Nifty settled 71 points or 0.29 per cent higher at 24,770.
It was the fifth consecutive day when the National Stock Exchange benchmark closed in the green. In the trading session, Sensex traded in the range of 80,626 to 80,952 and Nifty traded in the range of 24,654 to 24,787.
The buying trend was seen in midcap and smallcap shares. The Nifty midcap 100 index was at 58,444, up 196 points or 0.34 per cent and the Nifty smallcap 100 index was at 19,067, up 227 points or 1.21 per cent. In the Sensex pack, Titan, Asian Paints, ITC, HUL, Nestle, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, JAW Steel, Axis Bank, and TCS were the top gainers. UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, and SBI were the top losers.
Among the sectoral indices, Auto, pharma, FMCG, media, energy and infra were the top gainers. PSU Bank, fin service and realty were the top laggards. INDIAVIX was down by 3.55 per cent at 13.33. According to market experts, the Indian market traded in a tight range with a positive bias supported by strong DII flows. “While the defensive sector outperformed due to a continued shift in portfolio towards FMCG, consumer, commodities, and pharma,” they said.
“Global markets exhibited a mildly cautious tone ahead of the release of the FOMC minutes later on Wednesday. Currently, the expectation of a rate cut remains high, given the fall in US inflation and moderation in overall growth,” they added.
The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1457 crore on August 20, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,252 crore on the same day.
IANS