Sensex, Nifty Edge Higher; FMCG Stocks Lead Gains

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened higher on Friday amid declining commodity prices and eased worries on a supersized 100 basis point rate hike from the Federal Reserve later this month.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex edged up 155 points, or 0.3 percent, to 53,570 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was up 52 points, or 0.3 percent, at 15,990.
FMCG stocks topped the gainers list, with Nestle India, Britannia, Tata Consumer Products and Hindustan Unilever rising 1-2 percent.
Bharti Airtel added 1.5 percent after a panel of directors cleared the issue of equity shares by the telecom major to Google on a preferential basis.
IT and metal stocks declined, with Tata Steel, Coal India, HCL Technologies and Wipro falling 1-2 percent.
JSW Steel fell 1.2 percent ahead of its earnings release.
L&T Infotech rose half a percent on reporting a 28 percent rise in quarterly net profit.
ACC dropped about 1 percent on reporting a 60 percent fall in consolidated profit after tax for the second quarter ended June 2022.
Marico gained more than 1 percent. The FMCG firm expects demand and margin trends to improve towards the second half of FY23 on the back of easing crude and edible oil prices.
Tata Elxsi climbed 1 percent after it reported a strong 63 percent growth in quarterly profit.
Tata Steel Long Products slumped 4 percent as it posted a net loss of Rs 331.09 crore in Q1.
Torrent Power added half a percent on bagging a 300 MW wind energy project worth about Rs. 2,600 crore in Karnataka.