The domestic equity barometers sharply pared all gains and turned red in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad above the 16,250 mark. Bank stocks advanced for third day in a row. At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 44.96 points or 0.08% at 54,273.51. The Nifty 50 index lost 5.85 points or 0.04% to 16,253.45. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.31% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.08%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1878 shares rose and 1334 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, was down 0.83% to 22.55. The Nifty 26 May 2022 futures were trading at 16,216.85 at a discount of 36.6 points as compared with the spot at 16,253.45.

The Nifty option chain for the 26 May 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 38.5 lakh contracts at the 17,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 49.4 lakh contracts was seen at 16,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank rose 0.41% to 34,441.60. The index has gained 4% in three sessions.

Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.10%), Axis Bank (up 0.90%), HDFC Bank (up 0.81%) and ICICI Bank (up 0.42%) advanced.

Concurrently, Bandhan Bank (down 1.54%), SBI (down 0.92%), RBL Bank (down 0.83%), AU Small Finance Bank (down 0.64%) and Punjab National Bank (down 0.33%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Nucleus Software Exports surged 14.81% to Rs 452.85 after the company's consolidated net profit surged 112.2% to Rs 18.72 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 8.82 crore in Q3 FY22. Revenue from operations increased by 28.7% QoQ to Rs 140.72 crore during the quarter.

Bharat Rasayan declined 3.59% to Rs 11892.95 after the company on Tuesday intimated about a fire accident at one block of company's plant located at Bharuch in state of Gujarat. The company said the cause of the fire in under investigation.