Nifty above 16,900; NSE VIX slumps 7%

The domestic equity benchmarks marched towards the day's high early afternoon trade. The Nifty crossed the 16,900 mark. The buying was supported by a slump in crude oil prices. All sectoral indices on the NSE were trading in the green.

At 12:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 867.28 points or 1.55% to 56,644.13. The Nifty 50 index added 249.25 points or 1.50% to 16,912.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index jumped 1.46% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rallied 1.32%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 2,284 shares rose and 940 shares fell. A total of 118 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 7.60% to 24.70. The Nifty 31 March 2022 futures were trading at 16,942.75, at a premium of 30.5 points as compared with the spot at 16,912.25.

The Nifty option chain for 31 March 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 23.8 lakh contracts at 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 48 lakh contracts were seen at 16,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1.32% to 35,559.40. The index had declined 2.58% to end at 35,097.85 yesterday.

Coforge (up 4.29%), Infosys (up 1.65%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.34%), Wipro (up 1.33%), MindTree (up 1.19%), TCS (up 1.16%) and HCL Tech (up 1.11%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Communications rose 2.97% to Rs 1159.10 after the company announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with Formula 1. Under the collaboration, Tata Communications will function as the official broadcast connectivity provider of Formula 1.

Dhampur Sugar rose 0.20% to Rs 524.85. The company announced that a meeting of the board of directors will be held on Monday, 21 March to consider the recommendation of an interim dividend for the financial year 2021-22.

Macrotech Developers (MDL) gained 1.42% to Rs 1050.75 after Moody's Investors Service upgraded the company's corporate family rating (CFR) to 'B2' from 'B3'. "The upgrade of MDL's ratings to B2 from B3 reflects the company's improved liquidity following the partial prepayment of its $225 million backed senior secured bonds due in 2023, as well as a continued recovery in operating performance both at India and London," says Sweta Patodia, a Moody's analyst.

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