FMCG shares under pressure; Britannia Industries down 5%

At 1117 hours, CNX FMCG index down 2% compared with 0.83% decline in the CNX Nifty.

Shares of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are under pressure and slipped by up to 5% on the bourses.

ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia Industries, Marico, Godrej Industries, United Breweries, Colgate Palmolive (India), Godrej Consumer Products and Dabur India from the CNX FMCG index lost 1%-5% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

At 1117 hours, CNX FMCG index, the largest loser among sectoral indices, was down 2%, or 421 points, at 20,857 compared with 0.83% decline in the CNX Nifty.

Meanwhile, analysts at Karvy Stock Broking maintain a cautious view on the consumer sector.

“We believe that the rural fundamentals are not in place for the consumer growth story. We also believe that the competition in select categories would increase going ahead which is most likely to compel the consumer companies to pass on price benefits to the consumers and restrict operating margin expansion,” said Sachin Bobade, analyst at Karvy Stock Broking in Q4 results preview.

Among individual stocks, Britannia Industries has dipped 5.4% at Rs 2,177 on the NSE. Marico and Godrej Industries slipped 4% each at Rs 398 and Rs 356 respectively. Hindustan Unilever and Colgate Palmolive (India) were down 3% each at Rs 911 and Rs 2,017 respectively.