Nifty ends up 42 points, metal, FMCG get going

The benchmark Nifty gained 42.15 points to close at 8,391.50 underpinned by buying in frontline shares of metal, FMCG, media, IT and auto sectors amid mixed global pointers.
The market opened weak for a while, but soon recovered sharply only to trade in a range due to bouts of volatility, which made gains peter out. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition seeking postponement of the Union budget, which led to bargain-hunting as the key indices ended with modest gains.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 26.34 crore last Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Elsewhere, most Asian markets ended higher following gains in the US last Friday. European indices were trading lower in their afternoon trade due to fall in banking stocks.
The NSE 50-share Nifty index opened lower at 8,329.60 and moved between 8,404.15 and 8,327.20 before ending at 8,391.50, a gain of 42.15 points, or 0.5 per cent.
It saw an intra-day movement of about 76.95 points.

On the sectoral front, metal surged (2.74 per cent), media 2.04 per cent, commodities (1.29 per cent), FMCG (1.08 per cent), IT (0.86 per cent), realty (0.70 per cent), and auto (0.67 per cent).
Broader market midcap and smallcap ended with substantial gains with (0.47 per cent) and (0.88 per cent), respectively.

While pharma lost 0.91 per cent, infra fell 0.43 per cent.
Major index gainers were Hindalco (5.85 per cent), Zee (3.38 per cent), Idea (2.59 per cent), Grasim (2.36 per cent), GAIL (2.35 per cent), HCL Tech (2.21 per cent) and Tata Steel (1.61 per cent).
However, ICICI Bank fell (2.24 per cent), followed by Infratel (1.81 per cent), L&T (1.50 per cent), Axis Bank (1.28 per cent) and Sun Pharma (1.23 per cent).
A total of 991 scrips advanced, 637 declined, while 97 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands were 125.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 17,667.07 crore, from Rs 19,974.83 crore last Friday.

A total of 8,671.86 lakh shares changed hands in 6,925,240 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 10,890,505 crore.