Nifty below 17,650; Sensex down 95 pts; oil & gas shares decline

The key equity barometers continued to trade with minor losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,650 mark. Oil & gas stocks slipped for the fifth consecutive trading session.

At 12:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 94.91 points or 0.16% to 59,405.50. The Nifty 50 index lost 18.10 points or 0.10% to 17,630.85.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.31% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.65%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,260 shares rose and 1,100 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.

The Central government is set to table the Economic Survey 2022-23 today, 31 January 2023. The Economic Survey is the government`s review of how the economy fared in the past year. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to table the Union Budget 2023 on 1 February 2023.

Investors were cautious ahead of upcoming interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European Central Bank later this week in an effort to tame the inflation.

Economy:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its GDP growth forecasts for India for 2022-23 and 2023-24 at 6.8% and 6.1%, respectively. Growth in India is set to decline from 6.8% in 2022-23 to 6.1% in 2023-24 before picking up to 6.8% in 2024-25, with resilient domestic demand despite external headwinds, the IMF said in an update to its World Economic Outlook report.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 1.72% to 17.4050. The Nifty 23 February 2023 futures were trading at 17,740.70, at a premium of 109.85 points as compared with the spot at 17,630.85.

The Nifty option chain for the 23 February 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 26.6 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 27.9 lakh contracts were seen at 17,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 0.88% to 7,604.80. The index declined 11.91% in five trading sessions.

Adani Total Gas (down 10%), Gujarat State Petronet (down 1.15%), Reliance Industries (down 0.5%), Oil India (down 0.4%) and Castrol India (down 0.08%) declined.

On the other hand, Mahanagar Gas (up 2.9%) ,Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 2.51%) and Aegis Logistics (up 2.36%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Piramal Enterprises jumped 4.56% after the company`s board has approved to raise upto Rs 500 crore through non convertible debentures on private placement basis.

S H Kelkar and Company rose 0.25%. The company said that its wholly owned subsidiary, Keva Europe B.V has acquired 100% stake in PFW Aroma Ingredients B.V (PFW) from Keva UK. As on 31 March 2022, PFW had a turnover of Rs 84.73 crore and net profit of Rs 10.57 crore.

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