pharma stocks: Market Watch: FMCG, pharma stocks look safer | The Economic Times Podcast

Domestic benchmark equity indices settled lower for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, led by weakness in global markets, rupee woes and hardening bets of a more aggressive Fed rate hike.

The benchmarks opened higher but failed to sustain gains in a volatile session, with 30-pack Sensex settling 98 points lower at 53,416. Its broader peer, Nifty50, declined 28 points to settle below the 15,950 mark.

IT stocks were among the worst hit in today’s session after earnings from Mindtree, HCL Tech and TCS failed to cheer the Street. The Nifty IT index declined 2 per cent, with Mindtree falling nearly 4 per cent, while LTI settled 3 per cent lower ahead of earnings. Infosys, TCS, and Wipro also fell 1 per cent each.

From the 30-pack index, Axis Bank was the worst performer, falling nearly 2 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, SBI, Tech Mahindra, Ultratech Cement and ITC, which shed around 1-1.5 per cent. On the other hand, Sun Pharma advanced 2.5 per cent while DRL, Maruti, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Reliance also settled in the black.

On the sectoral front, PSU Bank was the top laggard, falling over 2 per cent, while Oil & Gas and Power indices gained 1-1.6 per cent. Broader markets also settled in the red, with Nifty Smallcap falling over 1 per cent while the Midcap index declined 0.09 per cent.

The rupee declined by 9 paise to settle at a new record low of 79.90 against the US currency on Thursday due to a firm dollar in overseas markets and capital outflows.

Mr Ajit Mishra of Religare Broking said it is critical for Nifty to hold 15,900 else the bias would shift sideways to negative. While most sectors are trading in tandem with the benchmark and drifting lower, defensives like FMCG and pharma are still holding strong.

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