Market at day's low; Nifty slides below 17,350; VIX spurts 6.3%

The key equity barometers traded near the day's low with modest losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 17,350 mark after hitting the day's high of 17,529.90 in early trade. Auto shares declined for the third consecutive trading session.

At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 273.99 points or 0.46% to 58,861.14. The Nifty 50 index lost 89.80 points or 0.52% to 17,323.10.

The broader market underperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 1.06% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.35%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 883 shares rose and 2,547 shares fell. A total of 178 shares were unchanged.

U.S. regulators announced plans to backstop both depositors and financial institutions associated with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The US regulators on Sunday (12 March) night cleared a plan for the Silicon Valley Bank to protect depositors and assured that no losses would be borne by the taxpayers.

After SVB's downfall, New York-based Signature Bank was closed by New York state financial regulators on Sunday. Signature had been a popular funding source for cryptocurrency companies.

Depositors at both failed SVB and Signature Bank in New York, which was shuttered Sunday over similar systemic contagion fears, will have full access to their deposits as part of multiple moves that officials approved over the weekend. Depositors at the bank will have access to their money from Monday.

Back home, consumer inflation data for February will be unveiled today, 13 March 2023. The annual consumer price inflation in India accelerated to 6.52% in January of 2023, the highest in three months, compared to 5.72% in December.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 6.30% to 14.2575. The Nifty 29 March 2023 futures were trading at 17,370, at a premium of 46.9 points as compared with the spot at 17,323.10.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 March 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 34.7 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 54.8 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index slipped 1.41% to 12,562.35. The index tumbled 3.51% in three trading sessions.

Sona BLW Precision Forgings (down 3.39%), Ashok Leyland (down 2.34%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.76%), Samvardhana Motherson International (down 1.63%) Bosch (down 1.53%), Tata Motors (down 1.49%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.18%), Balkrishna Industries (down 1.12%), Bharat Forge (down 1.11%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.82%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

IndusInd Bank tumbled 6%. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 10 March 2023, granted approval for re-appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of the bank for two years, with effect from 24 March 2023.

Tech Mahindra surged 7.99% after the company announced Mohit Joshi, the former president of Infosys, as its managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) designate for a period of five years, effective from 20 December 2023. Mohit Joshi will take over as MD & CEO when CP Gurnani retires on 19 December 2023. However, he will join Tech Mahindra well before that date to allow for sufficient transition time, said the company.

JSW Steel rose 0.63%. The company on Friday (10 March 2023) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, JSW Steel Coated Products (JSWSCPL), has acquired 31% stake in Ayena Innovations.

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