Indian Indices Recover; Realty, FMCG Under Pressure

Indian benchmark indices during the afternoon session have made sharp recovery. At around 2:46 pm, Nifty was trading higher by 168 points, topping 17,285 levels, while Sensex also climbed 590 points. Bank Nifty too traded with gains, while broader markets underperformed

The recovery is largely in line with the global markets. European markets also traded higher with German DAX up by over 1 percent. Earlier, the Indian markets opened weak on rising crude prices and multi-year high US treasury yields.

Among Nifty sectoral indices, Realty and FMCG emerged as the top laggards, even as pressure was also seen in other sectors including pharma and PSU Bank.

Of the 10 stocks that constitute
Nifty Realty index, 9 traded with losses, with a maximum cut of over 3 percent in share price of Lodha, followed by Brigade, Indiabulls Real Estate, Phoenix and Godrej Properties among others.

Also, the FMCG pack took a hit on growth concerns with stocks like Marico, Nestle, Britannia, Dabur, Emami and Hindustan Unilever all toppling by over 2 percent. Godrej Consumer Products cracked even more by over 3%.

According to reports, FMCG companies in the wake of continued increase in raw material price dealt in a blow in the December quarter earnings. Marico saw a hit in gross margins by 317 bps even though copra prices softened from peak. Also, other frontline players, including HUL and Nestled witnessed close to 200 bps contraction in gross margin on the back of aggressive price increases and product mix expansion.