Positive market breadth; India VIX rises

Key equity barometers continued to trade with modest losses in early afternoon trade. At 12:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 131.76 points or 0.32% at 40,575.55. The Nifty 50 index lost 33.05 points or 0.28% to 11,904.60.

Domestic shares mirrored weakness in other Asian markets. Investor sentiment was hit after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of being unwilling to craft an acceptable compromise on stimulus, following reports of progress earlier in the day.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.19% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.21%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1209 shares rose and 1171 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Coronavirus Update:

The government has said that the country's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 88.81%. In the last 24 hours, more than 61 thousand COVID patients have recovered. Currently, India's case fatality rate is at 1.51%, which is one of the lowest globally.

India reported 715,812 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 116,616 deaths while 6,874,518 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 41,171,093 with 1,130,597 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.62% to 22.5475. The Nifty October 2020 futures were trading at 11,895, at a discount of 9.6 points compared with the spot at 11,904.60.

The Nifty option chain for 29 October 2020 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 28.94 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 34.14 lakh contracts was seen at 10,500 strike price.

Stocks in Spotlight:

DLF rose 0.06% to Rs 172.25. The company has inked an anchor deal with Standard Chartered GBS for their office building at DLF Downtown, Taramani, Chennai. Standard Chartered GBS is leasing 7.7 lakh sq. ft. to set-up its largest office establishment in this project. DLF Downtown, a mixed-use development project, is strategically located in the heart of Old Mahabalipuram Road at Taramani, the IT Central Business District of Chennai which is already home to over 100+ MNCs and top Indian companies.

JK Tyre & Industries rose 5.78% to Rs 64.10. The company's consolidated net profit dropped 35.4% to Rs 108.91 crore on 5.6% increase in net sales to Rs 2,274.84 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 368 crore.

Meanwhile, the board has appointed Anshuman Singhania as managing director (MD) of JK Tyre & Industries effective 21 October 2020. Singhania joined the company as an executive and over the years has been deeply involved in various activities of the company in different positions, current being Dy. managing director.

KPIT Technologies dropped 5.55% to Rs 105.45. The IT firm reported a 12.09% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 27.15 crore on a 1.47% decrease in revenue from operations to Rs 485.45 crore in Q2 September 2020 (Q2FY21) over Q1 June 2020 (Q1FY21).

EBITDA margin improved to 14.3% in Q2FY21 as compared with 13.4% in Q1FY21. Net cash jumped 33.99% to Rs 527.80 crore in Q2FY21 over Rs 393.90 crore in Q1FY21.

Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals (MRPL) jumped 6.30% to Rs 28.70 after the company said its board in its meeting on 29 October 2020 will consider raising up to Rs 5000 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs). At the same meeting, the board will also consider the company's second quarter results.

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