Nifty holds 12,200; VIX slips below 11

Key barometers were hovering near the day's high in early afternoon trade. The Nifty held firmly above 12,200 level. NSE's volatility index (India VIX), based on the Nifty index option prices, slipped below 11, its lowest since April 2017.

At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 279.83 points or 0.68% at 41,443.59. The Nifty 50 index was up 83.45 points or 0.69% at 12,210.

The S&P BSE Midcap index rose 0.76%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small Cap index rising 0.62%, underperforming the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1316 shares rose and 905 shares fell. A total of 135 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 38 stocks advanced while 12 stocks declined.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 2.92% to 10.7975. The Nifty January 2020 futures were trading at 12,288.45, a premium of 78.25 points compared with the spot at 12,210.20.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 30 January 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 17.97 lakh contracts at the 12,200 strike price. Massive call writing was witnessed at 12,700 strike price, which added 2.97 lakh contracts. No significant call unwinding was seen in option chain for any of the strike prices.

Maximum put OI of 31.71 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price. Significant put writing was seen at the 12,000 strike price, which added 4.91 lakh contracts. No significant put unwinding was observed.

Economy:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said it will buy Rs 10,000 crore worth of the current benchmark 10-year bond on 30 December 2019 while selling four bonds maturing in 2020 for an equivalent amount. Earlier this week, RBI had conducted a similar open market operation (OMO) and purchased securities worth Rs 10,000 crore and sold securities worth Rs 6,825 crore.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) declined 0.66% after CARE Rating downgraded its rating on the bank facilities of the company. On Thursday, 26 December 2019, CARE Ratings downgraded long-term banking facilities of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) worth Rs 7,300 crore to 'AA+' from 'AAA' with outlook unchanged at 'Stable'.

H.G. Infra Engineering jumped 4.66%. The company was declared lowest (L-1) bidder by the National Highways Authority of India (BHAI) for the construction of proposed Rewari Bypass (NH-1) as feeder route in Rewari district in Haryana on Hybrid Annuity Mode amounting to Rs 522.02 crore.

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