The key equity barometers traded near the day's high in early afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to trade above the 16,200 mark. PSU banks witnessed some bit of bargain buying after declining in the past two sessions.
At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 544.1 points or 1.01% to 54,304.88. The Nifty 50 index added 164.90 points or 1.03% to 16,214.10.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.21% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.26%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,294 shares rose and 1,003 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 0.98% to 17.43. The Nifty 28 July 2022 futures were trading at 16,241.65, at a premium of 27.55 points compared with the spot at 16,214.10.
The Nifty option chain for the 28 July 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 25 lakh contracts at the 17,000 strike prices. Maximum Put OI of 32.7 lakh contracts was seen at 15,500 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 1.61% to 2,630.15. The index had declined 2.62% in the past two sessions.
Bank of India (up 1.97%), Canara Bank (up 1.72%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.63%), State Bank of India (up 1.34%) and Punjab National Bank (up 1.32%) were the top index gainers.
Among the other gainers were Indian Bank (up 1.11%), Union Bank of India (up 1.1%), Bank of Maharashtra (up 0.93%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 0.35%) and Central Bank of India (up 0.28%).
Stocks in Spotlight:
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company added 0.70%. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 156 crore for Q1 FY23 as compared to a loss of Rs 186 crore for Q1 FY22, primarily due to significantly lower claims and provisions due to COVID-19. Net premium earned increased by 4.3% to Rs 6,884 crore in Q1 FY23 from Rs 6,602 crore in Q1 FY22.
Claims and benefit payouts (net of reinsurance) decreased by 2.8% YoY to Rs 5,512 crore in Q1 FY23, primarily on account of decrease in death claims offset in part by increase in surrender/withdrawal. Value of new business (VNB) for Q1 FY23 was Rs 471 crore, a significant growth of 31.6% over Q1 FY22. VNB margin was 31% for Q1 FY23 as compared to 28% for FY22. The increase in VNB margin is primarily on account of shift in the underlying product mix.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) advanced 2.79%. L&T Realty has entered into a binding agreement to jointly develop projects in South Mumbai, Western Suburbs and Thane worth Rs 8,000 crore, with development potential of 4.4 million square feet. This is a part of company's larger plan to strengthen its footprint in major metros by adding around 5 million square feet per year over the next five years.
Meghmani Finechem gained 3.50%. The company announced the successful commissioning of chlorinated polyvinyl chloride resin (CPVC resin) plant at Dahej in Gujarat.
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