Nifty hovers at 17,100; broader market underperforms

The benchmark indices continued trading with small losses in early afternoon trade. Banks and financial stocks were under pressure. The Nifty hovered at 17,100 mark.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 174.17 points or 0.3% at 57,188.06. The Nifty 50 index lost 44.65 points or 0.26% at 17,108.95.

The broader market saw more selling pressure than main indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.83% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.67%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, shares 979 rose and 2,266 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.72% to 23.6. The Nifty 31 March 2022 futures were trading at 17,118.30, at a premium of 31.35 points as compared with the spot at 17,086.95.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index slipped 0.89% to 445.15, snapping its two day winning streak. The index saw profit taking after rising 1.72% in two days.

Indiabulls Real Estate (down 3.33%), DLF (down 1.59%), Godrej Properties (down 0.77%), Phoenix Mills (down 0.75%) and Sunteck Realty (down 0.55%) were top losers in realty space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Vedanta rose 0.71%. The mining company said that its board has approved capital expenditure plans amounting to $1.5 billion for its oil and gas, zinc, and steel businesses. The company said that the strategic priority for the Cairn Oil & Gas business is to increase near-term volume through infill wells and add resources through exploration. In order to deliver this, the board of directors has approved a capex investment (net) of $687 million. The company further informed that at Zinc International, the Gamsberg Phase II Expansion Project at a cost of $466 million will double up Gamsberg's capacity from 4 MTPA Ore to 8 MTPA to produce additional 200ktpa MiC Zinc. It will make Vedanta Zinc International as largest zinc producer of South Africa. Further, it has set aside $348 million for an expansion project at its subsidiary ESL Steel.

GAIL (India) rose 2.81% to Rs 151.80 after the company said its board will consider a share buyback on 31 March 2022.

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