Barometers turn rangebound; media shares advance; VIX slides 4.83%

The benchmark indices traded in a narrow range with moderate gains in early afternoon trade. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, attained record high levels in morning trade. The Nifty hovered above the 22,450 mark. Media shares witnessed profit booking after declining in the past three consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 412.12 points or 0.56% to 74,060.65. The Nifty 50 index rose 149.65 points or 0.67% to 22,476.55.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 74,254.62 and 22,529.95, respectively in morning trade.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.41% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 2.43%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 3,108 shares rose and 667 shares fell. A total of 167 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India�s forex reserves rose $140 million during the week ended March 22 to touch its all-time high of $642.631 billion, according to the latest RBI data. This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves.

For the week ended March 22, the foreign currency assets decreased by $123 million to $568.264 billion. Gold reserves rose $347 million to $51.487 billion during the week. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $57 million to $18.219 billion, the RBI said.

India�s reserve position with the IMF was also down by $27 million to $4.662 billion in the reporting week, the RBI data showed.

Meanwhile, the combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 6.7% (provisional) in February 2024 as compared to the Index of February 2023. The final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for November 2023 is revised to 7.9%. The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April to February, 2023-24 is 7.7% (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 4.83% to 12.21. The Nifty 25 April 2024 futures were trading at 22,607.80, at a premium of 131.25 points as compared with the spot at 22,476.55.

The Nifty option chain for the 25 April 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 25.4 lakh contracts at the 22,500 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 26.6 lakh contracts were seen at 22,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index jumped 3% to 1,849.70. The index fell 2.91% in the past three trading sessions.

Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 4.34%), Dish TV India (up 4.18%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 4.08%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 3.48%), TV18 Broadcast (up 2.8%), PVR Inox (up 2.62%), Tips Industries (up 2.18%), Nazara Technologies (up 1.76%), Saregama India (up 1.34%) and Sun TV Network (up 1.28%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

Man Industries (India) was locked in an upper circuit of 5% after the firm said that its board has appointed Sanjay Kumar Agrawal as the chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel of the company effective from 1 April 2024.

Prestige Estates Projects rallied 6.38% after the company through its subsidiaries, has entered into landmark deal with (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) ADIA and Kotak AIF for Rs 2,001 crore ($240 Million).

EIH surged 5.72% after its board approved the construction of an Oberoi Luxury Resort at Cavelossim Beach in South Goa with an investment of Rs 421 crore.

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