Rudra Shares and Stock Brokers LTD.

Mid Session Commentary

Equity barometers trade sideways; PSU banks stocks edge higher

(12:30, 29 Mar 2023)

The domestic equity barometers traded sideways in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad above the 16,950 mark. PSU bank stocks witnessed across the board buying.

At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 43.89 points or 0.08% to 57,569.83. The Nifty 50 index added 0.95 points or 0.01% to 16,952.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.70% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.68%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1920 shares rose and 1406 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

Trading could be volatile today as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month March series to April series. The March 2023 F&O contracts will expire today, 29 March 2023.

The domestic stock market will remain shut on Thursday, 30 March 2023 on account of Ram Navami.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 4.42% to 14.43. The Nifty 27 April 2023 futures were trading at 17,064, at a premium of 111.35 points as compared with the spot at 16,952.65.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 April 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 36.6 lakh contracts at the 17,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 59.7 lakh contracts were seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 0.78% to 3,595.15. The index had lost 0.21% to end at 3,567.35 yesterday.

UCO Bank (up 3.99%), Bank of India (up 2.59%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 2.53%), Bank of Maharashtra (up 2.38%) and Indian Overseas Bank (up 1.9%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Union Bank of India (up 1.79%), Central Bank of India (up 1.55%), Canara Bank (up 0.94%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.72%) and Punjab National Bank (up 0.56%).

On the other hand, State Bank of India (down 0.16%), Indian Bank (down 0.09%), turned lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NBCC (India) jumped 5.46%. The company received work orders worth Rs 146.39 crore from Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute of Engineering and Technology, (GKCIET) in West Bengal and Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

HFCL rose 1.03%. The company said that it has secured an order worth Rs 282.61 crore from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) for setting up of telecommunication systems for Surat Metro Rail Project Phase-I.

RPP Infra Projects gained 1.39%. The company announced that it has received a letter of acceptance (LoA) for a new project aggregating to Rs 148.08 crore in Uttar Pradesh.