Indices trade flat; IT shares advance

The frontline indices traded near the flatline with some positive bias in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,600 level. IT shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session. Trading could be volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 85.17 points or 0.11% to 80,801.69. The Nifty 50 index rose 2.60 points or 0.01% to 24,615.60.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 80,910.45 and 24,678.90, respectively in morning trade.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.09% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.92%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,255 shares rose and 2,522 shares fell. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgraded India`s economic outlook, raising its growth forecast for the 2024-25 financial year to 7%. This revision is driven by an anticipated improvement in private consumption, especially in rural areas.

The IMF maintained its projection of 6.5% growth for the following year (2025-26). This information comes from their latest World Economic Outlook report.

In April, the IMF had already revised India`s growth forecast upwards, from 6.5% to 6.8%. This latest increase reflects continued optimism about the Indian economy.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 1% to 14.37. The Nifty 25 July 2024 futures were trading at 24,640, at a premium of 24.4 points as compared with the spot at 24,615.60.

The Nifty option chain for the 25 July 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 54.7 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 63.9 lakh contracts were seen at 24,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1% to 39,531.70. The index added 1.59% in the two consecutive trading sessions.

Tata Consultancy Services (up 2.14%), LTIMindtree (up 1.9%), Coforge (up 0.91%), Infosys (up 0.48%) and Persistent Systems (up 0.31%), HCL Technologies (up 0.22%), Wipro (up 0.18%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.08%) edged higher.

On the other hand, L&T Technology Services (down 2.28%), Mphasis (down 0.19%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight :

KEC International rallied 3.20% after the civil construction company bagged new orders worth Rs 1,100 crore in transmission & distribution (T&D) projects in India, Middle East, Australia and Americas.

Adani Green Energy fell 1.17%. The company reported a 22% YoY increase in sale of energy to 7,356 million units in Q1 FY25 as against 6,023 million units posted in Q1 FY24.

Lloyds Metals and Energy added 1.22% after the company reported quarterly iron ore production of 4 million tonnes (MT) for Q1 FY25, which is higher by 5.26% as compared with the production volume of 3.8 MT recorded in Q1 FY24.

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