Market turns range bound; IT stocks rise

Key equity benchmarks were trading in a narrow range in early afternoon trade. The Nifty index continued to trade below 11,500 and took an immediate support at 11,460 level. IT stocks bucked weak market trend. At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 356.28 points or 0.91% at 38,740.86. The Nifty 50 index was down 106.20 points or 0.92% at 11,482.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.35%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.8%.

The market breadth was titled in favour of bears. On the BSE, 729 shares rose and 1471 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged. On Nifty50, 12 stocks advanced while 38 stocks declined.

On the derivatives front, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 4.22% at 16.025. The Nifty September 2019 futures were trading at 11,499.95, a premium of 21.7 points compared with the spot at 11,478.25.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 26 September 2019 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 39.11 lakh contracts at the 11,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 33.80 lakh contracts was seen at 11,500 strike price. The option chain indicates that 11,500 will be a crucial level for Nifty index.

Most IT shares bucked weak market trend as rupee edged lower. TCS (up 1.91%), Zensar Technologies (up 1.1%), HCL Technologies (up 0.75%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.67%), Infosys (up 0.47%), Tata Elxsi (up 0.38%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.24%) gained.

The S&P BSE IT index was up 0.8% at 15,538.95. The Nifty IT index was up 0.72% at 15,449.40.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.045, compared with its close of 71.01 during the previous trading session.

A weak rupee boosts revenues of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News