Market Wrap Podcast, Sep 8: Here's all that happened in the markets today

The consolidation theme played out on the benchmark indices for the second day on Wednesday as both Sensex and Nifty declined marginally amid profit-taking in IT and auto names and a cautious global market setup. That said, the quantum of losses remained low with investors lapping up beaten-down private bank stocks. Overall, strong buying in the broader indices kept the market breadth positive.

The BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices rose after a one-day hiatus, with the former hitting a new high in intra-day deals. It closed 0.81 per cent higher while the smallcap index gained 0.55 per cent.

At the benchmark level, the flagship Sensex shed 29 points to end at 58,250. In the 30-pack index, 15 stocks closed in the green and 15 in the red. Kotak Bank, Titan, NTPC and Sun Pharma were the top gainers, up between 1-3 per cent. On the other hand, Nestle India, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Auto were the biggest losers.

In the sectoral space on NSE, Nifty IT, Media and Auto declined the most. Bank and financial-oriented sectors along with Nifty Metal gained.

Stocks from the textile and telecom sectors were in focus in today's session amid a Union Cabinet meeting. The cabinet approved a Rs 10,683 crore PLI scheme for the textile sector. PLI scheme for textiles is part of the overall announcement of the scheme for 13 sectors made earlier during the Union Budget 2021-22, with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore. Incentives worth Rs 10,683 crore will be provided over 5 years. This gave a leg-up to the textile stocks, with some rising as much as 12 per cent.

On the other hand, the rally in telecom stocks amid hopes that the government will announce a relief package for the sector fizzled out as a Reuters report said the Union cabinet did not take up the said proposal. The cabinet was widely expected to take a decision on a so-called relief package for the telecoms industry, which would have helped all wireless carriers but especially the embattled Vodafone Idea. Following this, the stock slipped 15 per cent from day's high to end 3 per cent down at Rs 8 per share. Bharti Airtel also came off all-time high levels to end in the red.

Among other stocks, shares of APL Apollo Tubes were in demand as they rose 5 per cent to Rs 1845 ahead of the 1:1 bonus share issue. They touched a new high of Rs 1875 in trade today.

Info Edge rallied 9 per cent to end at Rs 6720, after touching an all-time high of Rs 6748, amid hopes of a strong growth outlook and likely windfall from policybazaar.com IPO. The company holds a 14 per cent stake in the company that has recently filed DRHP with Sebi.

Meanwhile, in other news, equity mutual funds attracted a little over Rs 8,666 crore in August, making it the sixth consecutive monthly net inflow, on staggering investment in flexi-cap category. In comparison, such funds witnessed a net inflow on Rs 22,583 crore in July on huge investments in flexi-cap category, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.

Now, going into trade on Thursday, we can expect the volatility to continue amid the weekly F&O expiry. Besides, Street will react to a host of global developments like the inflation print in China and ECB's decision setting meeting. Lastly, stock-specific triggers will continue to determine market moves.