The frontline indices traded with minor gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 22,700 level. Media shares advanced after declining in the past four trading sessions. Trading was volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.
At 12:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 208.82 points or 0.28% to 74,892.52. The Nifty 50 index added 58.80 points or 0.26% to 22,701.55.
In the broader market, The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.52% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.12%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,684 shares rose and 1,906 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.
Due to the observance of Ramadan Eid on 11 April 2024, the domestic market will be closed. Consequently, the Nifty weekly options expiry has been shifted to today.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.48% to 11.30. The Nifty 25 April 2024 futures were trading at 22,777, at a premium of 75.45 points as compared with the spot at 22,701.55.
The Nifty option chain for the 25 April 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 31.3 lakh contracts at the 23,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 48.2 lakh contracts were seen at 22,500 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Media rose 1.09% to 1,898. The index declined 2.50% in the past four trading sessions.
Sun TV Network (up 4.64%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 1.3%), PVR Inox (up 0.76%), Tips Industries (up 0.15%) advanced.
On the other hand, TV18 Broadcast (down 1.25%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 1.16%) and Dish TV India (down 0.8%) edged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Gensol Engineering rose 0.60%.The company reported a robust order book of Rs 1,783 crore at the beginning of FY25.
One 97 Communications shed 0.47%. The company said that its associate entity, Paytm Payments Bank’s (PPBL) managing director and CEO (MD& CEO) Surinder Chawla has tendered his resignation on 8 April 2024, on account of personal reasons and to explore better career prospects.