The headline equity benchmarks traded with moderate gains in early afternoon trade, supported by continuous foreign fund inflows and buying in blue-chip stocks, aiding the recovery in equities. The Nifty traded above the 23,550 mark. Bank shares advanced after declining for the past two consecutive trading sessions. The Nifty monthly futures and options (F&O) contracts are set to expire today.
At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rallied 334.05 points or 0.44% to 77,624.63. The Nifty 50 index added 99.40 points or 0.42% to 23,586.30.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.02% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.12%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,705 shares rose and 2,105 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.09% to 13.46. The Nifty 27 March 2025 futures were trading at 23,600.20, at a premium of 13.9 points as compared with the spot at 23,586.30.
The Nifty option chain for the 27 March 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 223.5 lakh contracts at the 23,600 strike price. Maximum put OI of 249.1 lakh contracts was seen at 23,500 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Bank index rose 0.77% to 51,601.05. The index shed 0.20% in the past two consecutive trading sessions.
Bank of Baroda (up 3.29%), Punjab National Bank (up 2.08%), HDFC Bank (up 1.38%), Federal Bank (up 1.18%), Canara Bank (up 0.91%), ICICI Bank (up 0.77%), Axis Bank (up 0.74%), State Bank of India (up 0.63%), and IndusInd Bank (up 0.5%) added.
On the other hand, AU Small Finance Bank (down 3.42%), IDFC First Bank (down 1.07%), and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.12%) edged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Sunteck Realty added 1.72% after the company announced that its board has approved an investment of approximately $10 million to $20 million in its wholly owned subsidiary (WOS), Sunteck Lifestyle International (SLIPL).
Sundaram-Clayton rose 0.59%. The company entered into a business transfer agreement with Sandhar Ascast (SAPL) for the sale of its aluminum die-casting business at the Hosur plant for a total consideration of Rs 163 crore.
Quadrant Future Tek shed 0.45%. The company announced that it has received a letter of acceptance (LOA) worth Rs 155.93 crore from RailTel Corporation of India for the supply of Kavach systems at East Central Railway.
S&S Power Switchgear hit an upper circuit of 5% after the company received Letter of Award (LOA) worth Rs 15 crore from Godrej & Boyce for the supply of disconnectors up to 400 kV for PGCIL's Haryana and Rajasthan projects.