Market rally for 5th consecutive day amid volatility, Fed minutes awaited

The Sensex and Nifty 50 managed to edge higher on Wednesday, marking their fifth straight day of gains, as markets remained cautiously optimistic ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, scheduled for later in the day.At close, the Sensex was up 102.44 points or 0.13 percent at 80,905.30, and the Nifty was up 71.35 points or 0.29 percent at 24,770.20.
Divi's Labs, Titan Company, SBI Life Insurance, Cipla and Grasim Industries were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Power Grid Corp and HDFC Bank.
On the sectoral front, the Realty index shed 1.3 percent, bank index was down 0.2 percent, while FMCG, pharma, metal, telecom and media were up 0.5-1 percent. The BSE midcap index rose 0.4 percent while the smallcap index added nearly 1 percent, outperforming headline indices.
Rupee Close: 
On 21st Aug'24,the Indian  rupee nosedived 14 paise to 83.91 against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday amid unabated outflow of foreign capital and volatile domestic equity markets. Forex traders reportedly stated a weak American currency and lower level of crude prices, however, cushioned the local unit at lower level.
Trading Guide:
Market experts have recommended three stocks to buy today -Apollo Tyres Ltd., Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)