Markets rose for the third consecutive trading session of the week after witnessing extreme volatility during the day. Buying by foreign funds continue to support markets. However it was weak manufacturing data released during the day that added to the volatility. Key indices opened the day lower however soon gained with firm Asian markets. Thereon markets turned extremely volatile to finally end the day with marginal gains. Shrinking export orders and sluggish output dragged Indian manufacturing growth in July. The HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), fell to 52.9 in July, from 55.0 in June. Market breadth was positive as on BSE, 1,690 shares rose and 1,128 shares fell.
The BSE Sensex touched an intraday high of 17,292 and a low of 17,189 before it gained 21 points or 0.1% to close at 17,257. Similarly the S&P CNX Nifty gained 11 points or 0.2% to end at 5,240 points. The mid cap and small cap stocks too grew and clearly outperformed their large cap peers. The BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices gained 1% and 1.1% respectively.
It was a mixed bag performance on the BSE sectoral space. The BSE Healthcare index emerged as the top gainer which grew by 1.3%. This was followed by the BSE Capital Goods index which too surged 1.1%. Here the index heavyweight L&T grew by 0.8% primarily on the back of strong order numbers. FMCG stocks too rose on renewed buying. The BSE FMCG index gained 0.4%. On the other hand, metal stocks were losers on the back of weak manufacturing data in China and UK. The BSE Metal index plummeted 0.7%. The BSE Oil & Gas index and BSE IT index were the other key losers which shed 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
Of the 30 stocks on BSE, 14 stocks declined while the rest gained. The top five gainers were Cipla, BHEL, Tata Power, SBI and HDFC. On the other hand, the top five losing stocks were Coal India, ONGC, Hero motor, TCS and Tata Steel which tanked between 1% - 3%.
As per the data released by SEBI, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in equity and the debt segments to the extent of Rs 189 crores and Rs 198 crores respectively.