Sensex on Monday closed at 30,570.97 level with gain of 106 points on the GST boost as FMCG stocks extended their rally for the second straight session surging up to 14 per cent amid concerns over PSU lenders’ assets quality stress.
The FMCG sector continued to remain buyers’ fancy on the back of the GST Council fixing rates for most of the items last week. Common use products such as hair oil, soaps and toothpaste would cost less from July 1 when the GST is expected to roll out.
Cigarette major ITC shares jumped 6.21 per cent to Rs 303.45 apiece. The stock hit a high of Rs 304.90 and low of Rs 291 in intra-day trade on Monday.Capping Monday index gains, shares of SBI plunged 4.46 per cent, followed by other laggards like Bank of Baroda (3.13 per cent), Allahabad Bank (4.78 per cent), Syndicate Bank (4.95 per cent) and IDBI Bank (3.99 per cent).
“The GST euphoria extended in consumer staples and FMCG while cautiousness in global market and volatility in commodity price impacted the gain. Mid and small cap underperformed in line with the board market (excluding FMCG) due to poor set of results and concern over high valuation,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Both key indices Sensex and Nifty extended gains by ending higher by 106 points and 10 points, respectively on sustained buying ahead of the expiry of futures and options May contract on coming Thursday.
The Sensex resumed higher at 30,638.88 and advanced further to 30,712.15 on initial strong buying. However, it dropped afterwards to 30,516.87 on profit-booking at higher levels before ending at 30,570.97, showing a gain of 106.05 points or 0.35 per cent.