The domestic equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in the early afternoon trade, driven by strong performance in IT stocks. The upbeat sentiment was echoed across Asian markets, which tracked overnight gains on Wall Street after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled a potential interest rate cut next month.
The Nifty traded above the 24,950 mark. Media shares declined after advancing in the past trading session.
At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 364.97 points or 0.45% to 81,671.82. The Nifty 50 index gained 105.35 points or 0.42% to 24,976.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.40% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.23%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,095 shares rose and 1,932 shares fell. A total of 197 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 2.30% to 12. The Nifty 28 August 2025 futures were trading at 25,007.20, at a premium of 31.2 points as compared with the spot at 24,976.
The Nifty option chain for the 28 August 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 209.1 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 138.7 lakh contracts was seen at the 24,900 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Media index dropped 1.57% to 1,628. The index rose 0.95% in the past trading session.
Nazara Technologies (down 6.57%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 2.23%), Network 18 Media & Investments (down 1.21%), PVR Inox (down 1.1%), Sun TV Network (down 0.67%) and Dish TV India (down 0.19%) declined.
On the other hand, Tips Music (up 1.19%), Saregama India (up 0.87%) and D B Corp (up 0.6%) edged higher.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Signpost India rallied 3.19% after the company has secured the exclusive advertising rights for all the 67 key metro stations operated by Bangalore Metro Rail Project (BMRCL), with an expected revenue potential of Rs 600 to Rs 700 crore.
Markolines Pavement Technologies gained 2.13% after the company has secured a significant contract worth approximately Rs 100 crore for the operation and production of patch repair work in the state of Andhra Pradesh.