The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with significant losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,750 mark. Auto shares witnessed some bit of profit-taking after advancing in the past two sessions. At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 448.65 points or 0.74% to 60,393.23. The Nifty 50 index lost 131.90 points or 0.74% to 17,722.15. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.53% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.46%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,815 shares rose, and 1,595 shares fell. A total of 226 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 4.09% to 14.99. The Nifty 23 February 2023 futures were trading at 17,779.35, at a premium of 57.2 points as compared with the spot at 17,722.15.

The Nifty option chain for the 23 February 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 32.7 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 32.6 lakh contracts were seen at 17,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index fell 0.65% to 13,291.45. The index had advanced 1.30% in the past two sessions.

Tube Investments of India (down 3.14%), Eicher Motors (down 1.99%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.61%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.98%) and Tata Motors (down 0.88%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were Ashok Leyland (down 0.55%), Bosch (down 0.43%), Balkrishna Industries (down 0.14%) and Bajaj Auto (down 0.1%).

On the other hand, Sona BLW Precision Forgings (up 6.62%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.22%) and Samvardhana Motherson International (up 1.19%) moved up.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Dalmia Bharat jumped 3.14%. The company's consolidated net profit from continuing operations surged 142.9% to Rs 204 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 84 crore posted in Q3 FY22.

JK Tyre tumbled 4.03%. The tyre maker's consolidated net profit rose 15.2% to Rs 65.59 crore on 17.5% increase in net sales to Rs 3,612.92 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Sun TV Network rose 2.41%. The media company's standalone net profit decreased 9% to Rs 416.32 crore on 17% decline in revenue to Rs 857.51 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.