Market Wrap, July 7: SENSEX and NIFTY50 settle flat; FMCG stocks shine, HUL biggest gainer

India and Washington’s interim trade pact could be announced before July 9, which marks the end of the 90-day suspension period of the Trump tariffs announced on April 2 on dozens of countries, including India.

The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in August 1.

A rally in FMCG stocks led by Godrej Consumer, Dabur, and Hindustan Unilever post business updates helped the equity benchmark indices to settle in green.

Meanwhile, heavyweight stock like Reliance Industries (RIL) surged to the highest level in nearly 9 months and closed at ₹1,540.5 apiece on NSE.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have sold equities worth ₹760.11 crore and ₹1,028.84 crore on a net basis, respectively.

The foreign investors have invested ₹14,590 crore in India’s equity market in June, marking the third straight month of investment. However, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net sellers in July and pulled out ₹1,421 crore in the first week of the month, data with the depositories showed.

On the global front, indices on the Asian markets settled mixed as investors remained cautious ahead of the July 9 tariff deadline.

The Nikkei 225 of Japan declined 0.56% to close at the 39,587.68 level, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.12% and stood at the 23,887.83 level.

South Korea's KOSPI index rose 0.17% to 3,059.47 levels. The Shanghai Composite also ended at the 3,473.13 level, marginally gaining 0.02%.

The US market remained closed on Friday, July 4, on account of Independence Day.

As many as 3,060 stocks traded on the NSE on Monday. Out of this, 1,154 advanced, and 1,795 declined, while 111 scrips remained unchanged.

This, however, indicates that the market breadth favoured declines.

A total of 61 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 38 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 115 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 74 touched their lower circuit bands on Monday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹459.04 lakh crore at the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX rose 1.98% to end at 12.56 levels.

The broader market underperformed the main equity indices on Monday. The NIFTY Midcap 100 index slipped 0.27%, ending at 59,515.75 levels, while the NIFTY Smallcap 100 gauge lost 0.44% to close at 18,950.15 levels.

Hindustan Unilever was the most contributing stock on Monday, jumping 2.97%. Tata Consumer Products (1.5%), Nestle India (1.15%), Eicher Motors (1.05%), and Jio Financial Services (1.03%) were the other top gainers.

On the contrary, Bharat Electronics (-2.47%), Tech Mahindra (-1.98%), ONGC (-1.57%), UltraTech Cement (-1.2%), and HCL Technologies (-1.1%) were the biggest laggards on the 50-share index.

Among winners, Nifty FMCG took the lead, gaining 1.68%, followed by Nifty Oil and Gas (0.41%) and Nifty Realty (0.08%).

However, Nifty Media (-1.03%), Nifty IT (-0.76%), Nifty Metal (-0.61%), Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.24%), and Nifty PSU Bank (-0.16%) were the biggest losers.