Market Watch: What’s behind the sudden buying interest in FMCG stocks?

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Let us take a quick glance at what happened on the Dalal Street today.

Domestic indices traded in a narrow range and largely underperformed global peers on Friday. While 20 of 30 Sensex stocks declined for the day, it was a few FMCG stocks, and heavyweight Reliance Industries, which helped the index close higher. Sensex added 42 points to end at 48,733 for the day. Nifty50 fell 19 points to 14,678. Global markets, which had fallen on Thursday, rebounded today amid ease in concerns over US inflation. Domestic indices played catch up after remaining shut on Thursday on account of a public holiday. Asian Paints soared 9 per cent on 81 per cent rise in Q4 profits. ITC advanced 4.5 per cent. Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever and L&T rose over 2 per cent. Reliance Industries gained 1 per cent. IndusInd Bank tanked 3 per cent. M&M, SBI, NTPC, ONGC and Sun Pharma declined 1.5-2 per cent.

In the broader market, Omaxe soared 13 per cent while UPL added 8 per cent. KPIT Tech, Orient Cement and Equitas Holdings gained 6-7 per cent. Jindal Steel, UPL and NMDC tanked 8 per cent each.

We have Paras Bothra of Ashika Stock Broking to share his views on the market

Welcome to the show, sir.

1) There are early signs of Covid peaking, given the recent fall in daily cases. But there are warnings of a third wave as well. How should traders position themselves?
2) Select consumer stocks were in focus on Friday. What has led to sudden buying interest?

We also caught up with Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research to decode the technical charts for you.

1) Friday was quite a narrow session. What are Nifty charts suggesting?
2) Nifty Bank was down for the third day. What is your outlook on the index?

Asian markets ended up to 2.5 per cent higher for the day. European markets also were trading up to 1 per cent higher in the first few hours of trade. US stock futures were hinting at a firm start to US equities later in the day.

That’s all for now. Do check out ETMarkets.com for all the news, market analysis, investment strategies and dozens of stock recommendations. Enjoy your evening. Bye Bye!