Sensex up 106 pts; FMCG stocks save the day

The benchmark Sensex today closed 106 points higher at 30,570.97 with FMCG counters holding one end up following the GST boost, but the gains were restricted by shares of State Bank amid concerns over PSU lenders' assets quality stress.
The FMCG sector continued to remain buyers' fancy on the back of the GST Council fixing rates for most of the items last week. Common use products such as hair oil, soaps and toothpaste would cost less from July 1 when the GST is expected to roll out.
Cigarette major ITC shares jumped 6.21 per cent to Rs 303.45 apiece. The stock hit a high of Rs 304.90 and low of Rs 291 in intra-day trade today.

Capping today's index gains, shares of SBI plunged 4.46 per cent, followed by other laggards like Bank of Baroda (3.13 per cent), Allahabad Bank (4.78 per cent), Syndicate Bank (4.95 per cent) and IDBI Bank (3.99 per cent).
"The GST euphoria extended in consumer staples and FMCG while cautiousness in global market and volatility in commodity price impacted the gain. Mid and small cap underperformed in line with the board market (excluding FMCG) due to poor set of results and concern over high valuation," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Both key indices Sensex and Nifty extended gains by ending higher by 106 points and 10 points, respectively on sustained buying ahead of the expiry of futures and options May contract on coming Thursday.

The Sensex resumed higher at 30,638.88 and advanced further to 30,712.15 on initial strong buying. However, it dropped afterwards to 30,516.87 on profit-booking at higher levels before ending at 30,570.97, showing a gain of 106.05 points or 0.35 per cent.

The 30-share pack has gained 136.18 points, or 0.45 per cent, in last two sessions.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also firmed up by 10.25 points, or 0.11 per cent, to close at 9,438.25 after moving in a range of 9,427.90 and 9,498.65.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 988.70 crore last Friday, as per provisional data released by stock exchanges.

Overseas, most of the Asian stocks ended higher following the continued recovery on Wall Street last week. Investors shrugged off a weekend missile test by North Korea.
Key indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan firmed up by 0.50 per cent to 0.86 per cent while indices in Shanghai Composite of China and Singapore straits times moved down by 0.10 per cent to 0.48 per cent.
European markets were also trading mixed. Key indices like France and Germany moved down by 0.05 per cent and 0.36 per cent while UK's FTSE was quoted higher by 0.33 per cent.

In the domestic market, selling was also seen in broader markets as BSE mid-cap index and small-cap fell 1.21 per cent and 1.14 per cent. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. Out of the 30-share Sensex, 11 scrips ended higher.
Among the gainers, besides cigarette major ITC, were L&T 1.61 per cent, Adani Ports 1.36 per cent, Tata Motors 1.23 per cent, HUL 1.07 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.02 per cent, TCS 0.90 per cent and Reliance 0.40 per cent.
Laggards on the bourses were: SBI 4.46 per cent, Lupin 3.95 per cent, Gail 2.48 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.98 per cent, M&M 1.95 per cent, Sun Pharma 1.87 per cent, Dr Reddy's 1.82 per cent and Power Grid 1.82 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral and industry indices, FMCG rose 3.09 per cent followed by consumer durables 0.61 per cent, capital goods 0.50 per cent, teck 0.34 per cent, IT 0.34 per cent and telecom 0.12 per cent, while healthcare fell by 1.64 per cent, utilities 1.33 per cent, realty 1.29 per cent, oil&gas 1.28 per cent and power 1.23 per cent.
The market breadth turned negative as 1,844 stocks closed lower, 877 stocks finished higher while 190 stocks ruled steady.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,815.15 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 4,134.78 crore registered during the previous trading session.