Breather kicks in: Nifty, Sensex snap 7-Day Rally; HUL Worst Hit

Sensex, Nifty today: Benchmark indices snapped their 7-day rally on Thursday with FMCG and realty stocks leading the decline. BSE Sensex concluded Thursday's trading session below the psychological 80k level mark, experiencing a drop of 315 points or nearly 0.4%. As for NSE Nifty, the index closed at the 24,246 level mark, down by 82 points or 0.34%.

From the Sensex pack, HUL, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Zomato (now Eternal), Mahindra and Mahindra, and HCL Tech were among the top losers. Sectorally, Nifty FMCG was the worst-performing sectoral index which saw a decline of 610 points or 1.06%, closing the day at 56,887.

"FMCG majors’ Q4 results were weak, impacted by subdued volumes and margin pressure, which led the sector to underperform," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments.

As for macro turbulence, tensions continue to remain high. While Trump's initial stance on reducing the tariff base on Chinese imports brought much-needed optimism to investors globally, the euphoria later faded.

"If the US truly wants to resolve the issue, it should heed the rational voices of the international community and its own domestic stakeholders, fully remove all unilateral tariff measures against China, and find a way to resolve differences through equal dialogue,” He Yadong, spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry told reporters on Thursday.

"The domestic market witnessed mild profit booking after the recent rally. Similarly, global markets too experienced selling pressure as the market participants scaled back the possibility of a quick resolution of tariff disputes between the US and China," said Nair.

Will the pain continue?

As per analysts, the current phase of consolidation in the index is in line with expectations and may continue in the coming sessions.

"We recommend maintaining a focus on stock selection and using market dips as buying opportunities. Following their recent outperformance, banking and financial stocks may see some consolidation. Meanwhile, sectors like PSEs, metals, and pharmaceuticals could attract renewed interest, so plan your short-term positions accordingly," said Ajit Mishra – SVP of research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Technically, markets remained subdued, trading within a narrow range on the monthly expiry day of the April derivatives contracts and ended slightly lower. After an initial dip, the Nifty moved in a tight band throughout the session.