The key equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad above the 25,700 level. Metal shares advanced after declining over the past four trading sessions.
At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 121.89 points or 0.15% to 83,698.13. The Nifty 50 index added 19.25 points or 0.08% to 25,701.70.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.87% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.08%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,135 shares rose and 3,000 shares fell. A total of 203 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 7.29% to 11.72. The Nifty 27 January 2026 futures were trading at 25,815, at a premium of 113.3 points as compared with the spot at 25,701.70.
The Nifty option chain for the 27 January 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 55.1 lakh contracts at the 27,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 52.6 lakh contracts was seen at the 26,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index rose 1.39% to 11,249.20. The index fell 2.39% in the four consecutive trading sessions.
Hindustan Zinc (up 3.95%), Hindustan Copper (up 3.84%), Vedanta (up 2.56%), Jindal Steel (up 1.36%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.21%), Tata Steel (up 1.06%), JSW Steel (up 1.04%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.83%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.6%) and Adani Enterprises (up 0.52%) rose.
Stocks in Spotlight:
KP Green Engineering rose 3.14% after the company announced its largest-ever order win, securing advance work orders worth Rs 819 crore from BSNL under the 4G Saturation Project.
Cupid advanced 2.25% after the company announced that a meeting of the board of directors will be held on Thursday, 29 January 2026, to consider the declaration of bonus shares and the Q3 results.