Market at day's high; Nifty above 22,100; VIX slumps 4.5%

The frontline indices extended gains and hit a fresh day's high in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 22,100 level. Oil & gas shares saw profit booking after declining in the past five trading sessions.

At 12:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 580.72 points or 0.80% to 72,954.84. The Nifty 50 index added 199.95 points or 0.91% to 22,197.65.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 2.02% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index surged 3.01%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,730 shares rose and 1,048 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed that India's wholesale price inflation eased further to a four-month low of 0.20% in February on an annual basis, as against 0.27% in January.

The sequential WPI rate for February grew 0.07% against a contraction of (-) 0.33% in the month before.

Positive rate of inflation in February, 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, electricity, machinery & equipment and motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers etc.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 4.50% to 13.78. The Nifty 28 March 2024 futures were trading at 22,309.60, at a premium of 111.95 points as compared with the spot at 22,197.65.

The Nifty option chain for the 28 March 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 34.6 lakh contracts at the 23,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 43.4 lakh contracts were seen at 21,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas gained 1.91% to 11,235.95. The index tumbled 8.38% in the past five trading sessions.

Adani Total Gas (up 8.6%), Castrol India (up 4.31%), GAIL (India) (up 3.76%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 3.64%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 3.42%) , Aegis Logistics (up 3.25%), Gujarat State Petronet (up 3.21%), Mahanagar Gas (up 3.11%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 1.39%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 1.13%) advanced.

On the other hand, Oil India (down 0.41%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 2.17% after the companys Hydrocarbon Business, L&T Energy Hydrocarbon has secured major order for gas pipeline project from a prestigious client in the Middle East.

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) advanced 3.60% after the company announced that it has signed two contracts with Minsitry of Defence for Rs 8,073.17 crore on 13 March 2024.

Kalpataru Projects International jumped 6.84% after the company, along with its joint ventures (JVs) and international subsidiaries, announced the receipt of new orders worth Rs 2,445 crore.

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