Benchmarks pare all losses; private bank shares in demand

The key equity indices erased all early losses and traded with modest gains in early-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 24,850 mark. Private bank shares advanced after declining in the past three consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 220.97 points or 0.29% to 81,200.10. The Nifty 50 index added 99.50 points or 0.40% to 24,849.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.16% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.28%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,709 shares rose and 2,070 shares fell. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Indian Railways has cut down Advance Reservation Period from current 120 days to 60 days w.e.f. 01.11.2024; excluding the date of the journey. The Ministry of Railways has announced this change in the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for train bookings by Indian travelers in order to promote genuine passengers. The decision will help the Railway Board to improve the visibility of genuine demand for rail travel in India. It was being noticed that about 21 percent of reservations done for 61 to 120 day periods were getting cancelled. Further, 5% of passengers were neither canceling their tickets nor were they undertaking the journey. This No Show trend was also one of the factors behind the decision, which will help Indian Railways in better planning of special trains during peak seasons.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 2.42% to 13.06. The Nifty 31 October 2024 futures were trading at 24,945.05, at a premium of 95.70 points as compared with the spot at 24,849.35.

The Nifty option chain for the 31 October 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 59.2 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 42.3 lakh contracts were seen at 24,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Private Bank index gained 1.58% to 25,902.60. The index fell 1.60% in past three consecutive trading sessions.

Axis Bank (up 5.58%), ICICI Bank (up 1.97%), RBL Bank (up 1.83%), Bandhan Bank (up 0.97%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.71%), City Union Bank (up 0.27%) and Federal Bank (up 0.20%) advanced.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank (down 0.37%), IDFC First Bank (down 0.08%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.02%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight :

5paisa Capital dropped 5.22%. The stockbroking company's consolidated net profit jumped 15.02% to Rs 21.90 crore in Q2 FY25 from Rs 19.04 crore reported in Q2 FY24. The company's total income rose 4.02% year on year (YoY) to Rs 100.85 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2024.

Prestige Estates Projects declined 2.38% after the company said that its sales stood at Rs 4,022.6 crore in Q2 FY25, registering de-growth of 43.28% YoY.

JSW Energy shed 0.90%. The company said that JSW Renew Energy Six and JSW Renew Energy Thirty have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company for STU-connected solar-wind hybrid capacity.

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