INDICES TRADE IN POSITIVE TERRAIN; FINANCIAL SERVICES SHARES ADVANCE

The key equity barometers trade with limited gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,450 mark. Financial services shares jumped after declining in the past trading session.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 267 points or 0.36% to 74,093.24. The Nifty 50 index added 87.05 points or 0.39% to 22,484.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 0.61% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.30%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,755 shares rose and 2,164 shares fell. A total of 176 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, added 1.65% to 13.50. The Nifty 27 March 2025 futures were trading at 22,561.50, at a premium of 77.25 points as compared with the spot at 22,484.25.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 March 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 66.4 lakh contracts at the 23,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 83.5 lakh contracts was seen at 22,000 strike price.

Economy:

India`s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rose to 2.38% (provisional) in February, 2025, primarily due to increase in prices of manufacture of food products, food articles, other manufacturing, non-food articles and manufacture of textiles etc. data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed on Monday. This is higher than the WPI rate in January which stood at 2.31%.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services rose 1.14% to 23,554.75. The index shed 0.16% in the past trading session.

Multi Commodity Exchange of India (up 4.58%), Muthoot Finance (up 3.95%), SBI Life Insurance Company (up 3.7%), Bajaj Finserv (up 3.34%) and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (up 2.25%) were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were Axis Bank (up 2.04%), ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company (up 2%), Bajaj Finance (up 1.97%), ICICI Bank (up 1.71%) and LIC Housing Finance (up 1.14%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Spicejet added 2.22% after its founder and promoter, Ajay Singh, through his promoter group company, Spice Healthcare, announced an additional Rs 294.09 crore investment, increasing the group`s shareholding in the airline.

Maruti Suzuki India rose 0.10%. The company announced that it will increase the prices of its cars by 4%, effective from April 2025, due to rising input cost and operational expenses.

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