Barometers trade flat; PSU banks outperform

The domestic equity benchmarks pared all gains and traded near the flat line in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 16,900 mark after hitting the day's high of 17,026.05 in the early trade. PSU Banks witnessed some bit of bargain buying after a six-day losing streak. Investors awaited the outcome of a key meeting of the RBI's monetary policy committee due this week for domestic cues.

Trading could be volatile as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month September series to October series. The September 2022 F&O contracts will expire today, 29 September 2022.

At 12:35 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 10.63 points or 0.02% to 56,608.91. The Nifty 50 index gained 11.65 points or 0.07% to 16,870.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.26% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.77%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,084 shares rose and 1,184 shares fell. A total of 150 shares were unchanged.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s six-member Monetary Policy Committee began on 28 September 2022. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the MPC decision on 30 September 2022, the last date of the meeting. The RBI is widely expected to maintain the balancing act between growth and inflation.

In the past three policy reviews, the RBI's rate-setting panel has raised 140 basis points in total since May this year. Currently, the repo rate, the interest rate at which the RBI lends to the commercial bank, stands at 5.40%.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, was down 1.69% to 21.72. The Nifty 27 October 2022 futures were trading at 16,918.70, at a premium of 13.6 points as compared with the spot at 16,905.10.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 October 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 22.1 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 24.5 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 1.16% to 12,744. The index has added 2.15% in two sessions.

Canara Bank (up 2.79%), Indian Bank (up 1.87%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 1.68%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.11%) and UCO Bank (up 0.86%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Union Bank of India (up 0.71%), Bank of India (up 0.54%), Indian Overseas Bank (up 0.29%), Punjab National Bank (up 0.29%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

Adani Green Energy advanced 1.89%. The company has announced the commissioning of 600 MW wind-solar hybrid power plant at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. The plant has power purchase agreements (PPA) with SECI at Rs 2.69 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 25 years, the power producer said.

C.E. Info systems (MapMyIndia) gained 0.86%. The company entered into a MoU with Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi to develop a web-application tool for ensuring effective sighting of EV charging stations.

Karur Vysya Bank fell 1.36%. The company said that consequent to authorization extended by Central Board of Direct Taxes ICBDTI, it has integrated with income tax portal of CBDT for collection of direct taxes.

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