Key benchmarks pared losses in early afternoon trade. Trading was volatile after the Supreme Court rejected the plea seeking new schedule of AGR payments and ordered contempt proceedings against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
At 12:28 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 43.10 points or 0.1% at 41,416.69. The Nifty 50 index lost 12.85 points or 0.11% at 12,161.80.
In the wider market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.11% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.14%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 983 shares rose and 1255 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 25 stocks advanced while 24 stocks declined. 1 stock remained unchanged.
Economy:
India's annual rate of inflation, based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 3.1% in January 2020 (over January 2019) compared with 2.59% in December 2019 and 2.76% in January 2019. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far is 2.50% compared to a buildup rate of 2.49% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.93% to 13.495. The Nifty February 2020 futures were trading at 12,175.60, a premium of 11.8 points compared with the spot at 12,163.80.
On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 27 February 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 26.18 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 38.96 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price. The option chain indicates that the Nifty will hover between 12,000 and 12,500 level till February expiry.
Q3 earnings:
Grauer & Weil (India) slipped 0.10% to Rs 52.25. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 33.19% to Rs 18.02 crore on a 4.79% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 162 crore n Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Surface Finishings segment revenues in the December quarter stood at Rs 139.16 crore (up 5.35% YoY), engineering segment revenues stood at Rs 14.91 crore (down 1.78% YoY) and shoppertainment revenues stood at Rs 9.05 crore (up 12.28% YoY).
Time Technoplast gained 1.90% to Rs 53.65. The packaging products maker reported 10.5% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 48.48 crore despite a 5.8% rise in net sales to Rs 923.21 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Profit before tax in the December quarter stood at Rs 67.30 crore, down by 7.4% from Rs 72.71 crore reported in Q3 FY19.
KNR Constructions fell 1.74% to Rs 276.15. The company's consolidated net profit rose 3% to Rs 51.89 crore on a 24.8% jump in net sales to Rs 603.75 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Total expenses and financing costs in the December quarter stood at Rs 449.53 crore (up 22.7% YoY) and Rs 27.61 crore (up 27.7% YoY), respectively.
Stocks in Spotlight:
KEC International rose 0.22% to Rs 344.60. The company has today entered into a share purchase agreement with KEC Global Mauritius, its wholly owned subsidiary, to acquire 100% shares of step down subsidiary KEC International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of KEC Global. This acquisition of shares will make KEC International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. a direct subsidiary of the company. This will result in reduction in layer of subsidiary(ies) and also enhance business and operational efficiency of the said subsidiary.
Jindal Poly Films gained 2.56% to Rs 276.35. The board of the company has approved expansion plans for the company's India operation by an investment of Rs 700 crore in Polyester film line and Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) film line.
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