Equities trade range bound; breadth strong

The benchmark indices traded in a range during early afternoon trade. The NSE sectoral indices rallied the board. The Nifty edged towards 17,200 level.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 272.69 points or 0.48% at 57,573.37. The Nifty 50 index gained 77.85 points or 0.46% at 17,170.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.23% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.61%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,456 shares rose and 781 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Australia announced sanctions on eight of President Vladimir Putin's top security advisors on Wednesday following Russia's 'unwarranted, unprovoked, unacceptable' invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Japan also issued sanctions on Russia, terming its move unacceptable violation of Ukraine's sovereignty. Japan's sanctions include prohibiting the issuance of Russian bonds in Japan and freezing the assets of certain Russian individuals as well as restricting travel to Japan.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 7.60% to 24.6350. The Nifty 24 February 2022 futures were trading at 17,154.55, at a discount of 15.5 points as compared with the spot at 17,170.05.

The Nifty option chain for 24 February 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 90.8 lakh contracts at the 17,500 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 93 lakh contracts was seen at 16,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index rose 1.23% to 2,060.30. The index lost 7.82% in the past five sessions.

TV18 Broadcast (up 4.10%), Nazara Technologies (up 2.24%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 1.93%), Network18 Media & Investments (up 1.35%) and DishTV India (up 0.99%) were the top gainers in the Media segment.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News