Sensex drops 335 pts, Nifty below 15,600 level

The key equity barometers traded near the day's low with steep losses in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 15,600 level, reversing from the day's high of 15,863.15 in early trade. All the sectoral indices were in the red while. Metal, realty and media shares witnessed major selling pressure. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 335.39 points or 0.64% to 52,206. The Nifty 50 index lost 127.20 points or 0.81% to 15,564.95.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.25% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.47%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 864 shares rose and 2,336 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

Investors digested the US central bank's policy action on Wednesday. The US Fed announced a 75 basis point hike in interest rates, its biggest jump in 28 years, in line with market expectations, to tame the soaring inflation.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 1.02% to 21.92. The Nifty 30 June 2022 futures were trading at 15,550.60, at a discount of 14.35 points as compared with the spot at 15,564.95.

The Nifty option chain for 30 June 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 24.7 lakh contracts at the 17,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 38 lakh contracts was seen at 15,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index fell 2.19% to 4,873.35. The index shed 2.89% in two sessions.

Among the components of the Nifty Metal index, APL Apollo Tubes (down 3.3%), Hindalco Industries (down 2.92%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 2.45%), Hindustan Copper (down 2.42%) and Tata Steel (down 2.17%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were NMDC (down 1.71%), Steel Authority of India (down 1.48%), Vedanta (down 1.48%), Adani Enterprises (down 1.28%) and National Aluminium Company (down 0.97%).

On the other hand, Hindustan Zinc (up 1.23%), Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (up 0.28%) and Welspun Corp (up 0.16%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Indian Overseas Bank fell 0.30% after the board of the PSU bank approved raising of funds worth Rs 2,000 crore by issuing equity shares and bonds in the financial year ending 31 March 2022. The board of directors has approved the issue of equity shares to a maximum of Rs 1,000 crore through follow on public offer or rights issue, with or without participation from the government of India or issue of equity shares to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs).

Apart from that, the bank may also issue shares to employees or issue shares on a preferential basis to LIC and other insurance companies or mutual funds, or QIBs. The bank's board has also approved raising Tier-II capital by issue of Basel III-compliant Tier-II bonds up to Rs 1,000 crore in one or more tranches, on a private placement basis or by way of a public issue, either domestically or overseas.

UPL shed 1.61% after the company through its wholly owned subsidiary UPL Speciality Chemicals (USCL), acquired 100% stake in Kudos Chemie for 40 crore. UPL incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, UPL Speciality Chemicals ("USCL"), which acquired 100% holding in Kudos. In 2020, UPL submitted a resolution plan to National Company Law Tribunal ("NCLT") under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for revival of Kudos Chemie, which was recently approved by The National Company Law Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh. As per the resolution plan, UPL acquired 4 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each of Kudos for total consideration of Rs 40 crore. UPL is required to invest Rs 237 crore in Kudos over a period of 2 years.The acquisition will help UPL to offer various value-added products to its customers having synergy with its existing business.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News