Trading on the Indian bourses got off to a shaky start on Wednesday, with steady selling in FMCG and IT counters dragging both benchmark indices into the red right from the opening bell. The Nifty slipped to around the 24,400 mark, as cautious global cues and a string of big corporate developments kept investors on edge.
At 9:23 am, the BSE Sensex was down 200.87 points at 77,953.38. The NSE Nifty 50 mirrored the weakness, shedding 60.75 points to trade at 24,410.95. Curiously, even though the headline indices were bleeding, market breadth stayed firmly positive, with roughly 1,462 stocks advancing, 1,331 declining and 166 unchanged.
Godrej Consumer slumps to a lower circuit
The sharpest blow of the session landed on shareholders of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL). The stock cracked 10 per cent to hit a lower circuit, sliding to ₹922.50, its lowest level in 52 weeks. Behind the heavy selling was an unexpected shake-up at the very top of the company. The board has named Aasif Malbari, currently its Global CFO and President (Africa), as the new MD and CEO of Godrej Consumer. He steps into the role vacated by Sudhir Sitapati, who has resigned. The abruptness of the leadership change caught investors off guard and piled fresh pressure on the stock.
The stocks holding the market up
Even amid the slide, a handful of heavyweights tried to cushion the fall. State Bank of India emerged as the top gainer, firming up 1.27 per cent. Tech Mahindra added 1.01 per cent and Eternal rose 0.58 per cent, while Axis Bank, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank also held on to their gains. On the losing side, Bharti Airtel eased 0.67 per cent to ₹1,906.10. UltraTech Cement, Kotak Bank and Hindustan Unilever were trading lower by 0.51 per cent, 0.48 per cent and 0.44 per cent respectively.
A mixed picture across sectors
The sectoral scoreboard was a divided one. Nifty Realty took the biggest hit, tumbling 0.78 per cent to lead the losers. Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT stayed in the red, down 0.58 per cent and 0.39 per cent. Only two gauges managed to stay green, with Nifty Energy up 0.03 per cent and Nifty MNC edging 0.07 per cent higher. The early trade made one thing clear, that investors were in a profit-booking mood, sparing only select banking and technology names.
