Sensex drops 770 pts, PSU bank stocks tumble, VIX climbs 6%

The frontline indices traded in a narrow range with deep cuts in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 17,400 level. Barring the Nifty FMCG index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE were in the red. Bank, financial services and media shares were under pressure.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 770.48 or 1.29% to 59,035.80. The Nifty 50 index lost 203.50 points or 1.16% to 17,386.10.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.95% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.56%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,218 shares rose and 2,109 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.

Investors turned cautious ahead of the release of jobs report in the US later today. The report could further bolster expectations for the Federal Reserve to step up the size of rate hikes.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 5.95% to 13.48. The Nifty 29 March 2023 futures were trading at 17,418, at a premium of 31.9 points as compared with the spot at 17,386.10.

The Nifty option chain for the 9 March 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 34.6 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 55.5 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index slipped 2.59% to 3,841.45. The index tumbled 3.69% in two trading sessions.

Canara Bank (down 3.95%), Bank of Baroda (down 2.51%), Punjab National Bank (down 2.16%), Union Bank of India (down 2.15%), State Bank of India (down 1.95%), Indian Bank (down 1.93%), Bank of India (down 1.7%), Punjab & Sind Bank (down 1.6%), Indian Overseas Bank (down 1.41%) and Central Bank of India (down 1.31%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ajanta Pharma slipped 2.33%. The drug maker announced that its board has approved a share buyback of upto Rs 315 crore at a price of Rs 1,425 per equity share through tender offer route. The indicative maximum number of equity shares bought back would be 22,10,500 shares which is 2.59% of the total number of paid-up equity shares of the company.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) fell 2.71%. The bank said that its board has approved a proposal to divest up to 49% of the bank's shareholding in its wholly owned subsidiary BOB Financial Solutions (BFSL).

IFL Enterprises shed 0.42%. The company on Friday announced that its board has approved 10-for-1 stock split and 1:4 issue of bonus shares.

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