Shares trade with modest gains; metal stocks shines

The market continued trading with modest gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near its 50 days simple moving average placed at 12,120.92. Global cues were positive as the number of new coronavirus infections fell and some Chinese factories slowly resumed operations.

At 12:32 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 290.34 points or 0.71% at 41,296.96. The Nifty 50 index was up 94.75 points or 0.79% at 12,126.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.26% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.01%.

The market breadth was even. On the BSE, 1119 shares rose and 1107 shares fell. A total of 162 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 2.67% to 13.8625. The Nifty February 2020 futures were trading at 12,147.25, a premium of 27.95 points compared with the spot at 12,119.30.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 27 February 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 28.03 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Maximum Call writing was witnessed at 12,400 strike price, which added 2.73 lakh contracts. Call unwinding was observed at 12,000 strike price which shed 2.28 lakh contracts.

Maximum put OI of 37.26 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price. Massive put writing was observed at 12,100 strike which added 3.07 lakh contracts.

The option chain indicates that the Nifty will stay between 12,000 and 12,500 level till February expiry.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index was up 1.5% to 2,668.25 rebounding from yesterday's 3.02% decline. While the death toll from the coronavirus epidemic in China has climbed above 1,000, the 2,097 new cases on Monday were down from 2,618 the previous day as Chinese workers and factories slowly returned to work. China is the world's biggest consumer of industrial metals.

JSW Steel (up 3.44%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.77%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.25%), Tata Steel (up 1.5%), Vedanta (up 1%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.65%), NMDC (up 0.18%) and Hindustan Zinc (up 0.03%) were top gainers in metal segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 1035.54 crore in Q3 December 2019 as compared to a net profit of Rs 377.34 crore in Q3 December 2018. Total income of the general insurer rose 20.3% to Rs 10091.16 crore in Q3 FY20 over Q3 FY19. The company reported a pre-tax loss of Rs 950.50 crore in the third quarter of FY20 as compared to a pre-tax profit of Rs 377.34 crore reported in the same period last year. GICRE said that higher agriculture claims and flood claims in various parts of India resulted in underwriting loss to the corporation. Shares of GIC tumbled 9.28% to Rs 240.

Oil India tumbled 2.39% to Rs 130.75. On a consolidated basis, Oil India's net profit fell 50% to Rs 709.39 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against Rs 1422.87 crore reported in Q3 December 2018. Net sales declined 16.1% to Rs 2957.19 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. The company has also declared a dividend of Rs 9 per equity share.

Shares of Infosys were trading 0.02% higher at Rs 773.40. The IT major on Monday announced a definitive agreement to acquire Simplus, one of the fastest growing Salesforce Platinum Partners in the USA and Australia. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, subject to customary closing conditions, Infosys said in a statement after market hours yesterday, 10 February 2020. According to a regulatory filing, the cost of acquisition is $200 million including contingent consideration to be paid for the acquisition of shares subject to closing adjustments. In addition, there are employee incentives and retention payments amounting up to $50 million on meeting certain performance conditions over three years, it added.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News