The key equity benchmarks declined further as they hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad above the 17,700 mark after hitting day's high of 17,811.15 in early trade. Realty shares rose for second consecutive session. At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 254.87 points or 0.42% to 60,252.03. The Nifty 50 index lost 56.45 points or 0.32% to 17,708.15. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.10% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.24%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,477 shares rose, and 1,874 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.

The RBI policy review meeting began on 6 February and concludes on 8 February 2023. The central bank is projected to raise the repo rate but at a slower pace. In its December monetary policy committee meeting, the RBI raised the policy repo rate by 35 basis points (bps) to 6.25%.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 1.99% to 14.40. The Nifty 23 February 2023 futures were trading at 17,757, at a premium of 48.85 points as compared with the spot at 17,708.15.

The Nifty option chain for the 23 February 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 34.8 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 37.5 lakh contracts were seen at 17,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index rose 0.43% to 409.75. The index has risen 0.95% in two sessions.

Godrej Properties (up 1.55%), DLF (up 0.97%), Phoenix Mills (up 0.87%), Sobha (up 0.59%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 0.49%) and Oberoi Realty (up 0.22%) advanced.

On the other hand, Sunteck Realty (down 1.5%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 1.29%) and Brigade Enterprises (down 0.87%) moved lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Mold-Tek Packaging slumped 9.59%. The company reported 16% fall in net profit to Rs 16.31 crore on a 15% decline in revenue to Rs 154.83 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q2 FY23. As compared with Q3 FY22, the company's net profit and revenue are lower by 2.10% and 3%, respectively.

JK Paper fell 1.12%. The company's consolidated net profit zoomed 119.2% to Rs 329.32 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 150.21 crore posted in Q3 FY22. Net revenue from operations was at Rs 1,643.06 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022, registering a growth of 60.5% as against Rs 1,023.62 crore reported in the same period last year.