Sectoral Snapshot Today, August 28, 2026: IT Leads Gains As Nvidia Boost Lifts Tech Stocks; FMCG, Consumer Durables Drag

Mumbai, August 28: Indian equities ended higher on Friday, but gains remained

uneven across sectors as a sharp rally in technology stocks offset weakness in several consumer-facing segments. The Nifty IT index jumped 3.5%, with all its constituents advancing, after Nvidia’s strong outlook fuelled optimism over sustained artificial intelligence spending.  

IT Stocks Outperform 

TCS (up 4.2%), Tech Mahindra (3.5%), Infosys (3%), Wipro (2.6%) and HCLTech (2.7%) were among the top gainers on the Nifty, tracking a strong overnight performance in U.S. technology stocks. The Nasdaq climbed 1.6% on Thursday, while Nvidia surged 8.7% after its forecast reinforced expectations of robust demand for AI infrastructure. 

The IT rally provided a major boost to the benchmarks after two consecutive sessions of losses. The sector had recently faced pressure from concerns around global technology spending and the potential impact of AI on traditional IT services, making Friday’s move a significant sentiment boost. 

Metals, Pharma Gain 

The pharma and metal indices also ended higher, gaining 0.5% and 0.7% respectively. The metal sector benefited from improved risk appetite, while pharma stocks added to the market’s gains. 

Among metals, Steel Authority of India rose 3.6% while Vedanta advanced 2.5%. Hindustan Zinc rose 1.9% as a global broker added the stock to its model portfolio. 

FMCG, Consumer Durables Drag 

On the losing side, consumer durables, energy, FMCG and realty indices declined around 0.4% each. Weakness in several heavyweight stocks, including ITC, Asian Paints and UltraTech Cement, capped the market’s upside. 

Financial stocks also remained mixed, with ICICI Bank among the key drags on the Nifty, highlighting the lack of broad-based buying despite the headline recovery. 

Among consumer durables, Kalyan Jewellers India fell 2.15% along with other stocks linked to gold such as Sky Gold & Diamonds (down 3.7%), Senco Gold (2.2%), Thangamayil Jewellery (1.12%) and PC Jeweller (0.6%). Titan Company managed to buck the trend rising 0.6%.    

Oil, Fed Signals Remain Key 

Crude prices remained another important factor. Brent crude fell 0.5% to around $89.20 a barrel on Friday, offering some relief to oil-importing sectors. 

Investors also remained cautious ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium. His comments could influence expectations around U.S. interest rates, Treasury yields and global capital flows, with potential implications for rate-sensitive sectors and emerging markets.  

The market also continued to digest Thursday’s sharp closing volatility under the new auction mechanism. The Sensex briefly fell about 3% during the closing auction before recovering some losses, while BSE index-derivatives turnover hit an 11-month low for a monthly expiry session.  

Overall, Friday’s sectoral action pointed to a technology-led recovery rather than a broad-based risk-on move, with global AI optimism supporting IT stocks while domestic and macro concerns continued to weigh on other parts of the market. 

Source

•  NSE