Market extends losses; metal shares lose sheen; VIX climbs 4.57%

The headline equity indices extended losses and hit fresh day's low in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below 22,400 level. Metal shares slipped after gaining in the past trading session.

At 12:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 401.66 points or 0.54% to 73,717.73. The Nifty 50 index declined 108.75 points or 0.48% to 22,384.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.07% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.60%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,006 shares rose and 2,847 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Continuing the gaining streak, Indias forex reserves surged $6.55 billion to $625.626 billion during the week ended March 1, according to the latest RBI data.

For the week ended March 1, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $6.043 billion to $554.231 billion, the data said.

Gold reserves increased by $569 million to $48.417 billion during the week. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $17 million to $18.18 billion, according to the data.

Indias reserve position with the IMF was also down by $41 million to $4.798 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 4.57% to 14.24. The Nifty 28 March 2024 futures were trading at 22,466.70, at a premium of 81.9 points as compared with the spot at 22,384.80.

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 45.1 lakh contracts were seen at 21,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index shed 1.18% to 8,272.35. The index gained 1.38% in the past trading session.

Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (down 3.79%), Steel Authority of India (down 3.17%), NMDC (down 2.97%), Tata Steel (down 2.26%) and Hindustan Copper (down 2.23%) were the top losers. Among the other losers were National Aluminium Company (down 2.21%), Welspun Corp (down 2.07%), Vedanta (down 1.91%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.32%) and Hindustan Zinc (down 0.48%) edged lower.

On the other hand, APL Apollo Tubes (up 1.15%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Torrent Power advanced 3.85% after the company announced that it has emerged as a successful bidder and received letter of award (LoA) from MSEDCL for setting up of 306 MW grid-connected solar power project at Nasik in Maharashtra.

Dwarikesh Sugar Industries rallied 3.22% after its board approved a proposal to buyback up to 30,00,000 fully paid-up equity shares of the company, representing 1.59% of total equity capital, at a price of Rs 105 per share.

Droneacharya Aerial Innovation shed 0.90%. The company announced that it has received first person view (FPV) drone pilot training contract from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Department of Military Affairs, Government of India.

Infibeam Avenues rose 0.50%. The company announced that it launched Theia, a video artifical intelligence (AI) developer platform for transforming business operations through AI.

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