Nifty slides below 17,850; Sensex down 30.84 pts; VIX jumps 4.61%

The key equity barometers slipped into the negative terrain and traded with small losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slid below the 17,850 mark. PSU banks declined for fourth straight day.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 30.84 points or 0.05% to 60,660.70. The Nifty 50 index lost 13.45 points or 0.08% to 17,830.95.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.10%

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,576 shares rose and 1,724 shares fell. A total of 182 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 4.61% to 14. The Nifty 23 February 2023 futures were trading at 17,836.25, at a premium of 5.3 points as compared with the spot at 17,923.15.

The Nifty option chain for the 23 February 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 150.2 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 79 lakh contracts were seen at 17,800 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index declined 1.29% to 3,719.90, extending losses for fourth trading session. The index slipped 4.1% in four trading sessions.

Bank of India (down 4.76%), UCO Bank (down 2.36%), Indian Overseas Bank (down 1.79%), Canara Bank (down 1.59%) and Bank of Baroda (down 1.58%), Union Bank of India (down 1.35%), Bank of Maharashtra (down 0.76%) declined.

On the other hand, Punjab National Bank (up 0.51%) ,Indian Bank (up 0.24%) and Punjab & Sind Bank (up 0.19%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Blue Star fell 0.09%. The Mumbai-based home appliances company announced that it has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Blue Star Innovation Japan on 20 February 2023.

Commercial Syn Bags jumped 6.50%. The company said that the credit rating agency ICRA has downgraded its ratings on the credit facilities of the company. The agency has downgraded the rating on the company's long-term credit facilities to "[ICRA] BBB+ (Stable) from "[ICRA] BBB (Stable). The agency has also downgraded its rating on the short-term facilities to "ICRA A3+ from "ICRA A2.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports gained 2.54% after the company entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government of Gujarat to setup a 900 tonne per day (TPD) Greenfield corn wet-milling plant at Himmatnagar, Gujarat.

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