Market Wrap Podcast, Aug 17: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Fag-end buying in select names pushed NSE barometer Nifty past the 16,600 mark for the first time. Gains were mainly concentrated in the defensive sectors like IT and FMCG. The 50-pack Nifty settled at 16,615, up 52 points. BSE Sensex too closed the volatile session near day's high after surging to a fresh peak of 55,855 in the last hour of trading. Sensex shut shop at 55,792, up 210 points.

Tech Mahindra, TCS, Nestle and Infosys were the top Sensex gainers and IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Airtel and L&T were the top losers.

Buying returned to broader markets as BSE Smallcap index jumped 0.30 per cent and BSE Midcap 0.71 per cent. Despite this, the advance-decline ratio stood at 1:2, suggesting concentrated market action and underlying bearishness.

Sectorally, the Nifty IT index was the best performer amid gains in index heavyweights. The index vaulted to a new high in intra-day deals and settled 2.57 per cent higher. It was followed by Nifty FMCG and Pharma indices. Metal pack on the other hand witnessed profit taking and was the worst performer, down over 2 per cent. Banks and financials too suffered losses.

On stock-specific front, rally in IT names pushed TCS to a new high of Rs 3560.25 on the BSE and its market cap swelled past Rs 13 trillion and became the only other listed company, apart from RIL, to achieve this feat. The stock closed 2 per cent up at Rs 3552.

Little known smallcap firm Fiem Industries' shares ended at 20 per cent upper circuit after the company said it is the sole supplier headlamps, tail lamps, indicators, rear fender assemblies and mirrors for Ola Electric's newly launched scooters S1 and S1 Pro.

Hindustan Zinc, on the other hand, lost over 4 per cent to end at Rs 317.5 after the company said Board Meeting scheduled today to consider interim dividend for financial year 2021-22 has been deferred.

Apollo Hospital shares extended their rally following strong June quarter show. The stock hit a new high of Rs 4956.95 and settled at Rs 4,920, up 13 per cent.

Meanwhile, on the primary market front, Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Sterlite Power Transmission has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs 1,250 crore through an initial share-sale. The initial public offer (IPO) will see sale of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 1,250 crore by the company, according to DRHP.

Lastly, on the global market front, stocks dropped for a second day and US equity-index futures tumbled amid concern more economic shutdowns are becoming necessary to contain a fast-spreading pandemic. Futures on the S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent and the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.1 per cent. The MSCI World index shed 0.3 per cent.