Barometers trade near record high levels

The Sensex and the Nifty were trading near record high levels in early afternoon trade. The Nifty 50 index traded a tad below 12,350 level. At 12:23 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 18.03 points or 0.04% at 41,877.72. The Nifty 50 index was up 12.05 points or 0.1% at 12,341.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.83% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was surged 0.78% higher. Sentiment was upbeat amid positive global cues.

There were more buyers than sellers. On the BSE, 1375 shares rose and 852 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 37 stocks advanced while 13 stocks declined.

Economy:

India's inflation, based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI), increased by 2.59% year-on-year in December 2019, accelerating from 0.58% in November and 3.46% in December 2018. It was the highest wholesale inflation rate since May, amid a faster rise in cost of vegetables, while crude oil prices remained firm.

Meanwhile, the all-India general CPI inflation jumped to 7.35% in December 2019, compared with 5.54% in November 2019. The inflation accelerated for the fifth straight month, remaining the highest rate since July 2016. Main upward pressure came from cost of food and beverages (12.16%), namely cereals (4.36%), milk (4.22%), vegetables (60.5%), fruits (4.55%) and pulses (15.44%). The food price index alone jumped to 14.12%, the highest since November 2013.

The corresponding provisional inflation rate for rural area was 7.26% and urban area 7.46% in December 2019 as against 5.27% and 5.76% in November 2019.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 1.75% to 14.025. The Nifty January 2020 futures were trading at 12,365.05, a premium of 17.6 points compared with the spot at 12,347.45.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 30 January 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 27.36 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Call writing was witnessed at 12,500 strike price, which added 84,525 contracts.

Maximum put OI of 45.76 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price. Significant put writing was seen at the 12,300 strike price, which added 2.32 lakh contracts.

The option chain indicates that the Nifty will stay between 12,000 and 12,500 level for the month of January.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Infosys fell 0.18%. The IT major said it partnered with GEFCO, a world leader in multimodal supply chain solutions and the European leader in automotive logistics, to support its digital transformation over the next five years.

Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals soared 4.65% to Rs 114.75 after the firm divested one of its plots of industrial land in Dahej, Gujarat for Rs 99.20 crore. It is part of its strategy to divest non-core assets.

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