Market trade sideways; pharma shares advance

The domestic equity benchmarks traded sideways in the early afternoon trade. Nifty traded above the 25,900 level. Pharma stocks advanced after declining in the past trading session.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 52.79 points or 0.06% to 84,221.13. The Nifty 50 index rose 6.50 points or 0.03% to 25,941.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.20% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.14%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,716 shares rose and 2,220 shares fell. A total of 206 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.46% to 11.38. The Nifty 24 February 2026 futures were trading at 25,996.90, at a premium of 55.25 points as compared with the spot at 25,941.65.

 

The Nifty option chain for the 24 February 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 52.5 lakh contracts at the 26,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 48.7 lakh contracts was seen at 25,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 0.74% to 22,373.75. The index rose 0.36% in the past trading session.

Laurus Labs (up 3.92%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 2.27%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.24%), Divis Laboratories (up 1.8%), Ipca Laboratories (up 1.79%), Alkem Laboratories (up 1.44%), Dr Reddys Laboratories (up 1.19%), Lupin (up 1%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 0.94%) and Ajanta Pharma (up 0.64%) jumped.

Stocks in Spotlight:

HLE Glascoat tumbled 8.63% after the company reported 55.3% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 4.60 crore despite a 41.4% increase in revenue to Rs 326.57 crore in Q3 FY26 as compared with Q3 FY25.

ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India added 4.49% after its consolidated net profit jumped 11.72% to Rs 140.17 crore in Q3 FY26, from Rs 125.46 crore in Q3 FY25. The companys revenue from operations jumped 11.68% YoY to Rs 1,074.91 crore in Q3 FY26.

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