Market Wrap: Consumer stocks drag D-Street lower; Sensex sheds 312 pts, Nifty below 23,700

Indian benchmarks indices ended lower on Wednesday, as advances in heavyweight financials and oil and gas firms were offset by losses in consumer stocks. Investors stayed cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s three-day monetary policy meeting, which commenced today, with expectations of an impending rate cut.

The benchmark BSE Sensex lost 312.53 points or 0.40% to close at 78,271.28, while the broader Nifty 50 index closed at 23,696.30, lower by 42.95 points or 0.18%.

Sector Watch

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Titan, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) were among the top losers, with Asian Paints shares closing 3.4% lower after the paint maker missed third quarter profit estimates, reporting a 23% YoY decline in its profit.

Asian Paints was also the top loser on the Nifty 50 index, closely followed by Titan, which closed 3% lower after the consumer discretionary major reported a marginal dip in its third quarter consolidated net profit.

Consumer stocks took the biggest hit, with the Nifty FMCG index falling 1.6% and the Nifty Consumer Durables index dropping 1%, wiping out the gains seen on February 1 during the post-Budget rally in consumer stocks.

Energy and state-owned companies advanced, with the Nifty Energy index rising by 1.4% and the Nifty Oil and Gas index climbing 1.5%. ONGC led the rally, surging 3% after its production outlook for fiscal years 2025-28 was revised upward, prompting Macquarie to upgrade the stock to “outperform” from “neutral.” Meanwhile, oil marketing giants BPCL and HPCL saw their shares increase by 2% and 3%, respectively, following Goldman Sachs’ upgrade to “buy” from “neutral,” citing favorable earnings outlook for both companies.Among individual stocks, state-owned telecom firm MTNL surged 18% following a statement from a senior government official confirming that the government will support MTNL and BSNL in monetizing their assets.