The Hindu Business Line : Defensive strategies lift Hind Unilever, ITC

Mumbai, Nov. 12 The BSE-FMCG index was the top performer of the day, ending with a 2.5-per cent or 50.19 points gain. Even though the sector was up by 2.5 per cent, only two stocks were in the green Hindustan Unilever and ITC.

HUL and ITC went up by 2.85 per cent and 5.30 per cent respectively on the BSE while on the NSE, they gained 3 per cent and 5.92 per cent.

Analysts said that as the general market is going through a correction phase, some people are adopting defensive strategies. “The FMCG sector has seen a good growth in the past few quarters and now investors want to play safe. FMCG seems to be a safe bet at the moment,” said an analyst tracking FMCG sector with a domestic brokerage. “Sectors like the FMCG are domestic market driven and will not be directly affected by global cues as much the other sectors. Besides, this sector did not participate in the recent rally. Now that markets seem to be going through a correction this sector will see only limited downside,” said the director of a stock broking firm.

On only two stocks gaining, analysts say that this is because there was not much of an interest in this sector until now. “Investors will first invest their money in the larger caps, this growth will then slowly percolate into the rest of the sector,” said the head of research with a brokerage.

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