Benchmarks trade falt; oil & gas shares rally for 9th day in row

The key equity indices traded near the flat line in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 23,000 level after hitting the day`s high of 23,004.05 in morning trade. Oil & gas shares extended gains for the nine consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 10.3 points or 0.02% to 75,407.76. The Nifty 50 index shed 3.40 points or 0.01% to 22,964.25.

The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.52% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.39%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,857 shares rose and 1,836 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.99% to 21.59. The Nifty 30 May 2024 futures were trading at 23,001.05, at a premium of 36.8 points as compared with the spot at 22,964.25.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 May 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 101.3 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 73 lakh contracts were seen at 23,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.71% to 12,015.25. The index advanced 6.67% in the nine consecutive trading sessions.

Adani Total Gas (up 3.91%), GAIL (India) (up 2.29%), Aegis Logistics (up 2.21%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) (up 1.78%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) (up 1.48%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 1.13%), Indraprastha Gas (up 0.98%), Mahanagar Gas (up 0.49%), Gujarat Gas (up 0.46%) and Castrol India (up 0.34%) edged higher.

On the other hand, Petronet LNG (down 0.6%), Reliance Industries (down 0.36%) and Gujarat State Petronet (down 0.15%) slipped.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Bikaji Foods International jumped 4.74% after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 116.24 crore in Q4 FY24, steeply higher than Rs 38.10 crore posted in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations grew by 12.81% year on year to Rs 520.83 crore during the quarter.

Biocon gained 2.31% after the company announced the signing of an exclusive licensing and supply agreement with South Korea-based Handok for the commercialization of its vertically integrated & complex drug product Synthetic Liraglutide.

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