Barometers trade flat; pharma shares rise for 2nd day

The domestic equity barometers pared all losses and traded near the flat line, with some positive bias, in early afternoon trade. Investors turned cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)`s policy announcement later this week. The Nifty traded above 17,000 mark. Pharma shares extended gains for second consecutive session.

At 12:23IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 16.63 points or 0.03% to 57,124.15. The Nifty 50 index added 4.45 points or 0.03% to 17,011.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.39% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.40%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,804 shares rose and 1,436 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)`s six-member Monetary Policy Committee meeting will begin today, 28 September 2022. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the MPC decision on 30 September 2022, the last date of the meeting. The RBI is widely expected to maintain the balancing act between growth and inflation.

In the past three policy reviews, the RBI`s rate-setting panel has raised 140 basis points in total since May this year. Currently, the repo rate, the interest rate at which the RBI lends to the commercial bank, stands at 5.40%.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, was up 0.23% to 21.62. The Nifty 29 September 2022 futures were trading at 17,007.75, at a discount of 4.1 points as compared with the spot at 17,011.85.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 September 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 94.6 lakh contracts at the 17,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 87.1 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 1.16% to 12,744. The index has added 2.15% in two sessions.

Strides Pharma Science (up 3.17%), Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (up 2.98%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 2.54%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 2.32%) and Lupin (up 1.77%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Dr Reddys Laboratories (up 1.65%), Abbott India (up 1.34%), Biocon (up 0.91%), Ipca Laboratories (up 0.64%) and Natco Pharma (up 0.42%).

Concurrently, Torrent Pharmaceuticals (down 3.14%), Pfizer (down 1.71%) and Laurus Labs (down 0.12%) moved lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro shed 0.22%. The company said that the buildings & factories business of L&T Construction business has been awarded a significant contract from the State Government of Assam on an EPC basis. As per L&T`s classification, the value of the significant project is 1,000 crore to 2,500 crore.

Max Ventures and Industries added 1.01%. The company announced that its real estate arm Max Estates has onboarded New York Life Insurance Company (NYL), as co-investor for its Office Project at Noida. New York Life proposes to invest Rs 196 crore for a 49% equity stake. Max Estates will be responsible for the final delivery of the project and will be entitled to a development fee on the same.

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