Benchmarks turn range bound; India VIX slumps about 14%

Key indices traded in narrow range with modest gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to trade below 20 days simple daily moving average (DMA) placed at 12,141.73. Gains were supported by positive Asian shares.

At 12:16 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 281.68 points or 0.69% and traded at 40,958.31. The Nifty 50 index was up 83.4 points or 0.7% at 12,076.45.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.7% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.91%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1507 shares rose and 649 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 42 stocks advanced while 8 stocks declined.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 13.88% to 14.4575. The Nifty January 2020 futures were trading at 12,121.60, a premium of 45.7 points compared with the spot at 12,075.90.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 30 January 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 27.26 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Call writing was witnessed at 12,200 strike price, which added 97,575 contracts. Maximum call unwinding was seen at 12,200 strike price which shed 1.47 lakh contracts.

Maximum put OI of 39.70 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price. Significant put writing was seen at the 12,100 strike price, which added 3.11lakh contracts.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals gained 1.37% after United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) granted final approval for Deferasirox tablets for oral suspension. Deferasirox tablets are indicated for the treatment of chronic iron overload due to blood transfusions (transfusional hemosiderosis) in patients 2 years of age and older. The drug is generic version of Exjade tablets of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

Goa Carbon was up 0.96% after the company resumed operations at Goa unit. The company in an exchange filing said that the maintenance work at company's Goa Unit located at St. Jose de Areal, Salcete-Goa has been completed and the Kiln has been lit up. After preliminary heat up, feeding of raw material will commence and normal production is likely to resume from today.

V.S.T Tillers Tractors fell 1.15%. The company said that power tiller sales quantity rose 4.3% to 1,410 units in December 2019 from 1,352 units in December 2018. Tractor sales fell 39.2% to 366 units in December 2019 from 602 units in December 2018.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News