Key equity benchmarks stabilised and traded with decent gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty was still below its 200 day simple moving average placed at 11,270.61. At 12:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 65.72 points or 0.17% at 37,946.12. The Nifty 50 index was up 18.5 points or 0.16% at 11,253.05. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.06%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.16%. The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 963 shares rose and 1216 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 26 stocks advanced and 24 stocks declined. On the derivatives front, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 2.87% to 17.7225. The Nifty October 2019 futures were trading at 11,246, a premium of 2.85 points compared with the spot at 11,243.15. On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 31 October 2019 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 24.57 lakh contracts at the 11,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 27.14 lakh contracts was seen at 11,000 strike price. The option chain indicates that Nifty will stay between 11,000 and 11,500 in October expiry. Auto stocks were trading mixed. Tata Motors (up 1.2%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.89%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.23%) edged higher. Mahindra and Mahindra (down 1.51%), Ashok Leyland (down 1.16%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.8%), TVS Motors Company (down 0.56%) and Bajaj Auto (down 0.02%) tumbled. The Nifty Auto index was trading 0.09% lower at 7,352.85. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) released sales data for the month of September 2019. Passenger vehicle sales declined for 11th straight month, falling 23.7% to 223,317 units in September 2019 over September 2018. Sales of medium & heavy commercial vehicles were also disappointing. It declined 62.11% to 14,855 units in September 2019 over September 2018. Shares of state-run oil marketing companies sank after crude oil prices firmed up in the international commodity market. Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) (down 3.75%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) (down 2.11%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) (down 1.97%) all tumbled. In the commodities market, Brent crude for December 2019 settlement was up $1.33 at $60.43 a barrel. The contract rose 1.34% to settle at $59.1 a barrel during the previous trading session. Crude oil prices flared up amid reports of an explosion in an Iranian tanker that has set the National Iranian Oil Company-owned vessel on fire near the Saudi port city of Jeddah. The explosion is said to have caused heavy damages to the vessel and oil is spilling into the Red Sea. The report further added that the reason for the explosion is still under investigation but reports suggested that it may be a terrorist attack. Powered by Capital Market - Live News |