Indices trade with minor cuts, IT shares decline

The headline equity indices traded with minor losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,700 level. Oil & gas, auto and FMCG stocks edged higher while realty, IT and healthcare stocks witnessed a bit of a selling pressure.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 174.63 points or 0.29% to 60,049.83. The Nifty 50 index lost 41.95 points or 0.24% to 17,669.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.08% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.11%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,638 shares rose and 1,678 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

Investor sentiment nosedived after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's stated that the central bank will likely need to raise interest rates for a longer period. He said that the Fed is all set to take larger rate hikes following strong economic data and will likely move in larger steps if future economic data indicates tougher measures to control inflation. This would mark a reversal of the central bank's actions over the last two meetings when it trimmed the size of its rate hikes from 75 basis points to 25 basis points.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, advanced 3.26% to 12.67. The Nifty 29 March 2023 futures were trading at 17,707.20, at a premium of 37.7 points as compared with the spot at 17,669.50.

The Nifty option chain for the 9 March 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 29.9 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 47.6 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 1.08% to 29,853.75. The index added 1.56% in two sessions.

LTI Mindtree (down 1.41%), Infosys (down 1.39%), Coforge (down 1.29%), Persistent Systems (down 1.05%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.02%), Mphasis (down 0.99%), L&T Technology Services (down 0.95%), HCL Technologies (down 0.71%), Wipro (down 0.7%) and Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.5%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

Natco Pharma rose 0.75% after the pharma company announced that its board has approved a share buyback of upto Rs 210 crore at a price not exceeding Rs 700 per equity share through open market route.

PVR shed 0.69%. The cinema chain operator on Monday (6 March 2023) announced the opening of 11 screen multiplex in city of Chennai at Phoenix Marketcity, Tamil Nadu. The new multiplex in Chennai will strengthen the company's foothold in Tamil Nadu with 136 screens in 22 properties and consolidates merged entity's presence in South India with 519 screens in 93 properties.

City Union Bank added 0.11%. The bank announced that its board has approved the appointment of Kalyanaraman M, as the chief risk officer (CRO) of the company for a period of one year. Kalyanaraman M will take over as the chief risk officer of the company with effect from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, tenure of one year.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News