Barometers near the day`s high; FMCG shares decline

The key equity indices currently traded near the day`s high in early afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to trade above the 16,300 mark. FMCG shares witnessed some bit of selling for second consecutive session.

At 12:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 137.87 points or 0.25% to 54,659.02. The Nifty 50 index added 29.30 points or 0.18% to 16,307.80.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.56%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1882 shares rose and 1272 shares fell. A total of 158 shares were unchanged.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee slumped for the seventh consecutive session, plunging to a record low, breaching the key psychological level of 80 against the US dollar on Tuesday after closing at a new low in the previous session.

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was hovering at 79.9350, compared with its close of 79.9800 during the previous trading session. It had hit a low of 80.0550 in trade today.

Some speculation about the possibility of the ECB raising interest rates for the first time in 11 years at its monetary policy meeting on July 21 pulled the dollar index lower and provided some support to INR. The dollar index is made up of quotes from 6 major currency pairs and the weight of the EURUSD currency pair in the dollar index is 57.6%.

The US Dollar index (DXY) was down 0.16% to 107.19. It has traded in 107.18 - 107.63 range today.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 1.79% to 17.47. The Nifty 28 July 2022 futures were trading at 16,298.20, at a discount of 9.7 points as compared with the spot at 16,307.80.

The Nifty option chain for the 28 July 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 27.9 lakh contracts at the 17,000 strike prices. Maximum Put OI of 32.4 lakh contracts was seen at 16,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index slipped 0.24% to 41,360.60. The index has declined 0.33% in two sessions.

Nestle India (down 2%), Marico (down 0.83%), Dabur India (down 0.8%), Tata Consumer Products (down 0.8%) and ITC (down 0.76%) were the top index losers.

Further, United Spirits (down 0.61%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (down 0.54%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.36%), United Breweries (down 0.26%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 0.19%) edged lower.

Meanwhile, Varun Beverages (up 1.45%), Radico Khaitan (up 0.89%) and Britannia Industries (up 0.18%) managed to outperform.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) advanced 0.42% while NTPC lost 0.30%. The two Maharatna PSUs have signed an agreement for the formation of a joint venture company for meeting the power requirements of upcoming projects of IOC refineries.

Nucleus Software Exports jumped 8.09% to Rs 442 after the company along with CMC-TS entered into an agreement with Vietnam Public Joint-stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank) to digitally transform the bank`s lending origination operations.

Steel Strips Wheels gained 1.83% to Rs 858.95 after India Ratings and Research upgraded the company`s long-term issuer rating to `IND A+` from `IND A-`. "The outlook is stable,� the credit rating agency said in a statement.

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