Barometers pare gains; Nifty holds 15,000

The equity barometers pared gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 15,100 mark, but held above the crucial 15,000 level. Positive global cues boosted investors' sentiment. Metals, banks and pharma stocks were in demand.

At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 245.67 points or 0.48% at 51,027.36. The Nifty 50 index gained 105.25 points or 0.70% at 15,087.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.95% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.03%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,748 shares rose and 959 shares fell. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 3.62% to 23.2925. The Nifty 25 February 2021 futures were trading at 15,084.45, at a discount of 2.80 points as compared with the spot at 15,087.25.

The Nifty option chain for 25 February 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 66 lakh contracts at the 15,200 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 60.2 lakh contracts was seen at 15,000 strike price.

The February 2021 F&O contracts will expire today, 25 February 2021. Trading could get volatile as the session progresses as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month February series to March series.

Coronavirus Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 11,25,53,181 with 24,97,406 deaths. India reported 1,51,708 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,56,705 deaths while 1,07,38,501 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

More than one crore 26 lakh 71 thousand doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to the beneficiaries in the country so far. Meanwhile, the country's COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.20% with recovery of more than 11 thousand 799 patients within 24 hours.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 1.44% to 12,209.60. The index added 1.50% in the past two sessions.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2.78%), Cipla (up 2.52%), Lupin (up 2.25%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.51%) advanced.

Cadila Healthcare gained 1.83% after the pharmaceutical company said that its US subsidiary has acquired experimental drug from Cyprium for treating Menkes disease. Cyprium Therapeutics, a partner of Fortress Biotech, and Sentynl Therapeutics, a US-based specialty pharmaceutical company owned by the Zydus Group, has announced its execution of an asset purchase agreement to commit development funding for and acquire Cyprium's proprietary rights to CUTX-101, its Copper Histidinate product candidate for the treatment of Menkes disease. Menkes disease is a rare X-linked recessive pediatric disease caused by gene mutations of copper transporter ATP7A. CUTX-101 is in clinical development to treat patients with Menkes disease.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Wipro rose 1.04% after the IT major said it is launching Cisco Business Unit that will focus on the development and adoption of digital transformation solutions. Wipro is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its business partnership with Cisco. To commemorate this milestone, Wipro is launching the Cisco Business Unit that will focus on the development and adoption of end-to-end digital transformation solutions leveraging Cisco technologies for customers. This strategic initiative demonstrates Wipro's commitment to its business relationship with Cisco. Also, it is a growth accelerator for the successful and well-established 360-degree partnership of several years. The Cisco Business Unit will provide a full stack of industry offerings aligned to customers' needs. Key solutions and digital accelerators include intent-based networking, digital workplace virtualization, hybrid cloud, application transformation, security and enterprise 5G.

NSE Glitch:

Stock market regulator, SEBI has advised National Stock Exchange (NSE) to carry out a detailed root cause analysis of the trading halt witnessed at NSE on Wednesday and also to explain the reasons for trading not migrating to the disaster recovery site. SEBI has asked NSE to submit its report at the earliest.

NSE halted trading at 11.40 AM on Wednesday due to 'issues with the links with telecom service providers'. The trading halt continued till 3.30 PM. In view of the exceptional situation arising out of the trading halt, the trading hours were extended from 3.30 PM to 5.00 PM at NSE, BSE and MSEI on Wednesday.

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