Barometers pare some losses; Media shares rally

The key equity benchmarks pared some losses and traded with moderate losses in early-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above 21,600 level after hitting day`s low of 21,530.20 in early trade. Media shares advanced after declining for the three consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 414.19 points or 0.58% to 71,141. The Nifty 50 index lost 107.55 points or 0.49% to 21,635.70.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.15% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 292.20%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,096 shares rose and 1,637 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number is 0.27% (Provisional) for the month of January, 2024 (over January, 2023), according to data from Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The inflation stood at 0.73% in December.

Positive rate of inflation in January, 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, machinery & equipment, other manufacturing, minerals, other transport equipment etc. The month over month change in WPI index for the month of January, 2024 stood at -0.33 % as compared to December, 2023.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 1.05% to 15.64. The Nifty 29 February 2024 futures were trading at 21,690.00, at a premium of 57.5 points as compared with the spot at 21,632.50.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 February 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 50.7 lakh contracts at the 23,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 34.8 lakh contracts were seen at 21,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index rose 1.69% to 2,128.85. The index declined 4.74% in the past three trading sessions.

Dish TV India (up 3.08%), D B Corp (up 2.79%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 2.09%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 2.09%) , Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 1.69%), TV18 Broadcast (up 0.95%), PVR Inox (up 0.66%), Sun TV Network (up 0.59%), Saregama India (up 0.48%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

RailTel Corporation of India added 1.88% after the company has received the work order from Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India (Prasar Bharati) worth Rs 139.73 crore.

NBCC (India) was locked in upper circuit of 5% after the company�s consolidated net profit jumped 60.30% to Rs 110.74 crore on 13.65% increase in net sales to Rs 2,405.5 crore in Q3 FY24 over Q3 FY23.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers added 1.34% after the company posted 38.1% rise in net profit to Rs 88.25 crore in Q3 FY24 from Rs 63.92 crore in Q3 FY23. Revenue from operations increased by 32.1% year-over-year (YoY) to Rs 923.10 crore in the third quarter.

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