The key equity barometers traded with small losses in the early afternoon trade as investors remain cautious due to uncertainty about U.S. tariff policies and their possible impact on inflation. The Nifty traded below the 22,900 level. Trading was volatile due to the weekly Nifty 50 F&O series expiry today.
Metal shares witnessed buying demand for fourth consecutive trading session.
At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 222.97 points or 0.29% to 75,715.93. The Nifty 50 index declined 40.35 points or 0.18% to 22,892.55.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.73% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.01%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,480 shares rose and 1,243 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.
Politics:
Rekha Gupta will be sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Delhi today at Ramlila Maidan. The oath will be administered by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other dignitaries in attendance.
Gupta, who won from the Shalimar Bagh seat, began her political career in 1992 with ABVP at Delhi University and later served as the General Secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha in Delhi. She secured victory over three-time AAP MLA Bandana Kumari by 29,595 votes. Her selection as CM came 10 days after BJP's landslide win in the Delhi Assembly elections, where the party secured 48 out of 70 seats, ending AAP’s decade-long rule. The BJP has yet to announce its ministerial lineup.
Outgoing CM Atishi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal have extended their best wishes. Rekha Gupta will be Delhi’s fourth woman CM after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit, and Atishi.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 2.33% to 15.06. The Nifty 27 February 2025 futures were trading at 22,925.45, at a premium of 32.9 points as compared with the spot at 22,892.55.
The Nifty option chain for the 27 February 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 84 lakh contracts at the 23,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 67.9 lakh contracts was seen at 23,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index advanced 1.65% to 8,496.75. The index rallied 3.78% in the four consecutive trading sessions.
APL Apollo Tubes (up 5.26%), Welspun Corp (up 4.57%), NMDC (up 2.89%), National Aluminium Company (up 2.87%) and Hindustan Copper (up 2.2%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.94%), Steel Authority of India (up 1.9%), Jindal Stainless (up 1.47%), Adani Enterprises (up 1.45%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.41%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
ITCONS E-Solutions was locked in upper circuit of 5% at Rs 480.30 after the firm has secured a new work order from Wipro to provide manpower services on a contractual basis for the period of one year.
HFCL gained 1.39% after the firm received an advance work order worth Rs 2,501.30 crore from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to execute the BharatNet Phase III Programme in the Punjab Telecom Circle.
Avantel spurted 12% after the company announced that it has bagged a new order from NewSpace India for supply, installation and commissioning of devices for Xponders.