Sensex and Nifty close higher; Auto, FMCG & IT stocks shine

Hi everyone, I am Neha Vashishth from ET Markets. Welcome to ET Market Watch. Let's start with the highlights of the day.

-Even though there were negative cues coming in from global markets - Indian markets ended slighly higher today
-The indices were led by auto, FMCG, and IT stocks
-Sensex rose 137 pts and close at 65,539
-Nifty rose 30 pts and closed at 19,465

Gainers and losers of the day
UltraTech Cement, and NTPC were the top gainers, rising over 2% each. Tata Motors, Infosys, Power Grid, M&M, L&T, and Maruti also closed higher. On the flip side, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, and JSW Steel ended lower.

Stocks in news today
Shares of debt-ridden Vodafone Idea closed nearly 3% lower after the firm reported a loss of Rs 7,840 crore for the quarter ended June 2023.

SBFC Finance closed 62% higher at Rs 92.7. SBFC Finance debuted at a healthy premium of 44% on the exchanges. The stock listed at Rs 82 on NSE over the IPO price of Rs 57 apiece.

Sector-wise performance
Nifty Realty rose 1.10%, Nifty Healthcare rose 0.98%. Pharma, media, IT, FMCG, and auto sectors also closed higher. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap100 closed flat, while Smallcap100 gained 0.57%.

Global Markets
Global stocks slipped on Wed for the third time in four sessions due to disappointing Chinese economic data and the absence of meaningful stimulus from Beijing.

The MSCI World stock index was down 0.19%. There was a sharp drop seen in Asian equities, with the MSCI Asia index, which excludes Japan, falling 0.98%.

Crude oil prices and Rupee
Oil prices were little changed. Brent crude futures slipped 7 cents to $84.82 a barrel, while the U.S. (WTI) fell 8 cents to $81.91 a barrel. The Indian rupee rose 10 paise to $82.94 against the US dollar.