The record breaking of India's equity markets took a breather in today's weekly options expiry session. Benchmark indices ended with modest losses, after recovering from the lowest point of the day.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.3% lower at 45,959. The index recovered close to 300 points from the day's low. The NSE Nifty 50 index too recovered 80 points from the lowest point of the day, but ended 0.4% lower at 13,478. The Sensex snapped a five-day winning streak while for the Nifty, it was the first decline after seven straight days of gains.
Among the sectoral indices, the Media and PSU bank indices were the key laggards in today's session, both ending lower by over 1.5% each.
The Nifty Auto index declined 1% while the Nifty Bank ended 0.6% lower, recovering over 300 points from the day's low.
What bucked the trend today were FMCG stocks. The index ended with gains of 2.8% and at a record high. This was also the biggest single-day gain for the stock in over six months.
Modest gains were also seen in the Nifty Realty (up 0.4%) and Nifty Metal index (up 0.2%).
Broader markets underperformed the benchmarks in today's session. The Nifty Midcap index fell 0.8% while the Smallcap index declined 0.5% in today's session.
The India Volatility Index ended 1.6% lower at 18.61.
1,171 stocks on the NSE ended with losses while 726 managed to end with gains.