At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 197.51 points or 0.36% at 55,431.27. The Nifty 50 index was down 90.35 points or 0.55% at 16,478.65.
The broader indices underperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.21% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.11%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 769 shares rose and 2279 shares fell. A total of 132 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 209,934,849 with 4,402,002 global deaths.
India reported 363,605 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 433,589 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
The credit rating agency, CRISIL on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, upgraded India Inc's credit quality outlook for FY22 from cautiously optimistic to positive, based on continued improvement in demand. This comes after the setbacks caused by the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in Q1 of FY22. Increasing vaccination coverage should also reduce the impact of the third wave if it comes, CRISIL said in a statement.
CRISIL Ratings Chief Rating Officer Subodh Rai said the outlook revision factor in strong economic growth, both domestic and global, and containment measures that are localised and less stringent compared with the first wave. This should sustain the pick-up in domestic demand even if the third wave hits. We believe that India Inc is on a high and strong footing, he said.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 7.28% to 13.845. The Nifty 26 August 2021 futures were trading at 16,456.40, at a discount of 12.3 points as compared with the spot at 16,468.70.
The Nifty option chain for 26 August 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 57.9 lakh contracts at the 16,500 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 60.4 lakh contracts was seen at 15,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty FMCG gained 0.87% to 38,065, rising for the sixth consecutive trading day. The index has rallied 4.5% in six days.
Godrej Agrovet (up 2.94%), Britannia Industries (up 1.74%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 1.26%), Nestle India Ltd (up 1%), Bajaj Consumer Care (up 0.89%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (up 0.7%) and Dabur (up 0.59%) were top gainers in FMCG space.
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was up 3.66% to Rs 2575.05. It hit a 52-week high 2,579.65 in intraday today.
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