FMCG, healthcare stocks defy markets with spirited fight back, gain up to 4%

Even as the headline indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty tanked nearly 4% to the day's low of 73,659.29 and 22,389.85 respectively on Tuesday, with early trends suggesting a fightback by the India alliance albeit a majority mark for the NDA alliance, certain sectors managed to hold themselves as others witnessed a free fall.

While Sensex slipped from Monday's closing of 76,468.78 by 2809 points on the intraday basis, the broader Nifty witnessed an 874 point fall to 23,263.90.

The sectors which defied the trends were FMCG and healthcare, with NIfty FMCG, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare gaining 0.23%, 0.40% and 0.60%, respectively around 10:40 am.

The Nifty FMCG was trading at 54,606.85, down by 46.75 points or 0.09% with 11 stocks trading in the green around this time while the rest 4 were in the red. The top gainers were Dabur India, Colgate Palmolive and Marico which were up by up to 4% while the losers in the pack were Balrampur Chini, Radico Khaitan, Varun Beverages and ITC which fell between 4% and 0.76%.

Meanwhile, Nifty Healthcare was marginally up with over 6 points lead and traded at 11,854.15. There were 8 advances and 12 declines in a 20-stock index. The gainers were Max Healthcare, Divi's Laboratories and Abbott India. They were up by 2%, 1% and 0.84%, respectively. The laggards were Glenmark Pharma, Granules India, Biocon and Alkem Laboratories which declined by up to 4.21%.

Nifty Pharma which fought against the trends in early trade also fell by 0.40% or 75 points to 18,789.40.

While attributing today's steep fall to the trends so far, V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said that if BJP doesn’t get a majority on its own, there will be disappointment and this is getting reflected in the market.

However he sees positive trade in the FMCG stock for a different reason. "It is possible that Modi 3.0 may not be as reform-oriented as the market expected and may turn more welfare- oriented. This is reflected in the strength in FMCG stocks," Vijayakumar said.

N Jayakumar, Managing Director at Prime Securities, sees big opportunities in the pharma sector. "The biggest reason being the sectoral weight that pharma enjoys is still to my mind under 6%. Number two, most of the stocks there represent under-ownership, reasonably high promoter ownership, and participation still is low," he reasoned.

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