BAROMETERS TRADE WITH SMALL GAINS, NIFTY ABOVE 22,100 LEVEL

The headline equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in early-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,100 level after hitting the day`s low of 22,085.65 in early trade. IT shares edged higher after declining in the past two trading sessions.

At 12:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 58.46 points or 0.08% to 72,848.59. The Nifty 50 index rose 12.25 points or 0.05% to 22,134.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.24% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.18%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,775 shares rose and 1,930 shares fell. A total of 125 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

All-India House Price Index (HPI) increased by 3.8% YoY in Q3:2023-24 compared to 3.5% growth in the previous quarter and 2.8% a year ago, the Reserve Bank of India reported Annual HPI growth varied widely across the cities - ranging from a high of 8.4% (Chennai) to a low of 0.6% (Kochi). On a sequential basis, all-India HPI increased by 1.6% in Q3:2023-24; among the ten cities, six (viz., Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Kochi) recorded rise in house prices during the latest quarter. The Reserve Bank released its quarterly house price index (HPI) 1 (base: 2010-11=100) for Q3:2023-24, based on transaction-level data received from the registration authorities in ten major cities.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.03% to 15.60. The Nifty 29 February 2024 futures were trading at 22,128.50, at a discount of 5.8 points as compared with the spot at 22,134.30.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 February 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 134.6 lakh contracts at the 23,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 86.3 lakh contracts were seen at 22,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.42% to 37,755.80. The index declined 1.39% in the two trading sessions.

Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.83%), HCL Technologies (up 0.86%) and Persistent Systems (up 0.78%) advanced.

On the other hand, Mphasis (down 0.81%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.72%) and LTIMindtree (down 0.56%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

HFCL rose 0.61%. The telecom company on Monday announced that it has received purchase orders worth approximately Rs 40.36 crore for supply of optical fiber cables to one of the leading private telecom operators of the country.

Route Mobile fell 0.18%. The company said that it has partnered with Billeasy E Solutions (Billeasy) for introducing rich communication services-based (RCS) business messaging for enhancing metro ticket purchasing process at Maha Metro Pune.

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