The frontline indices traded with minor cuts in early afternoon trade. Nifty traded a tad below the 24,400 level. Media shares declined after advancing in the past two consecutive trading sessions.
At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 209.57 points or 0.26% to 80,587.27. The Nifty 50 index lost 68.60 points or 0.27% to 24,394.75.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.18% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.04%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 960 shares rose and 2,772 shares fell. A total of 154 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.34% to 18.28. The Nifty 29 May 2025 futures were trading at 24,480, at a premium of 85.25 points as compared with the spot at 24,457.30.
The Nifty option chain for the 29 May 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 43.1 lakh contracts at the 24,500 strike price. A maximum put OI of 68.2 lakh contracts was seen at a 24,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Media index slipped 1.35% to 1,510.50. The index rose 0.22% in the past two consecutive trading sessions.
Saregama India (down 2.75%), Tips Music (down 2.38%), Sun TV Network (down 1.86%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 1.67%), PVR Inox (down 1.48%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 1.05%) and D B Corp (down 0.44%) declined.
On the other hand, Nazara Technologies (up 1.2%) and Network 18 Media & Investments (up 0.16%) edged higher.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Unicommerce eSolutions rallied 3.93% after the company's consolidated net profit rose 16.4% to Rs 3.35 crore on a 70.6% increase in net sales to Rs 45.27 crore in Q4 March 2025 over Q4 March 2024.
Jammu & Kashmir Bank declined 2.29% after the company reported an 8.47% decline in net profit to Rs 584.54 crore in Q4 FY25, compared with Rs 638.67 crore in Q4 FY24. However, total income jumped 15.35% year on year to Rs 3,616.16 crore in Q4 FY25.
Hind Rectifiers rallied 2.83% after the company’s net profit zoomed 98.24% to Rs 10.15 crore on a 22.18% increase in total income to Rs 185.39 crore in Q4 FY25, compared to Q4 FY24, driven by improved operational performance.