Shares trade below the flat line; private bank stocks in demand

The domestic equity benchmarks traded slightly below the flat line, with minor cuts, in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,500 mark. Private bank stocks extended gains for third consecutive session.

At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 49.31 or 0.08% to 58,803.76. The Nifty 50 index lost 8.65 points or 0.05% to 17,516.45.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.20% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.10%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,512 shares rose and 1,756 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 2.92% to 19.87. The Nifty 25 August 2022 futures were trading at 17,536.05, at a premium of 19.6 points as compared with the spot at 17,516.45.

The Nifty option chain for the 25 August 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 23.3 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 23.9 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Private Bank index rose 0.53% to 19,590.95. The index has added 2.19% in three sessions.

City Union Bank (up 7.49%), ICICI Bank (up 1.39%), IndusInd Bank (up 1.26%), HDFC Bank (up 0.28%) and Federal Bank (up 0.05%) were the top gainers.

On the other hand, RBL Bank (down 1.37%), IDFC First Bank (down 1.12%) and Axis Bank (down 1.01%) turned lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 1.63%. The company`s construction arm secured a `significant` contract for its heavy civil infrastructure business. As per L&T`s classification, the value of the significant project is Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.

Indian Hotels Company shed 0.35%. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 170.05 crore in Q1 FY23 as against a net loss of Rs 277.34 crore in Q1 FY22. The company reported revenue form operations fo Rs 1,266.07 crore in the quarter ended June 2022, steeply higher than Rs 344.55 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year.

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