The Sensex and the Nifty were trading in a narrow range near the day's low in early afternoon trade. The Nifty held above the 11,950 level. The sentiment was negative after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two US military targets inside Iraq in response to the United States' killing of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani last week.
At 12:19 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 292.51 points or 0.72% at 40,576.96. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 96.45 points or 0.8% at 11,956.50.
The broader market traded lower. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.64% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.34%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 691 shares rose and 1453 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 9 stocks advanced while 41 stocks declined.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 10.69% to 16.1725 after Iran's counter attack raised fresh concerns. The Nifty January 2020 futures were trading at 12,004, a premium of 43.6 points compared with the spot at 11,960.40.
On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 30 January 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 26.75 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Call writing was witnessed at 12,200 strike price, which added 2.34 lakh contracts.
Maximum put OI of 40.38 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price. Significant put writing was seen at the 11,400 strike price, which added 2.48 lakh contracts. Put unwinding was seen at 12,000 strike price which shed 1.87 lakh contracts.
Stocks in Spotlight:
NBCC (India) was down 0.58%. The company secured new orders worth Rs 1090.53 crore in December 2019.
NHPC was down 0.21%. The company has raised Rs 500 crore on 3 January 2020 in second tranche through private placement of secured, redeemable, taxable, non-cumulative, non-convertible 7.38% NHPC-Y1 Series Bonds.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was down 1.03%. CARE Ratings has reaffirmed M&M's long term rating on bank loan facilities at AAA with stable outlook. The short-term rating was reaffirmed at A1+. The ratings factors the company's its dominant market position in the Indian tractor industry and Light commercial vehicles (LCV) segment.
Economy:
The National Statistical Office on Tuesday forecast India's GDP growth to be 5% in 2019-20, slower than the previous year's 6.8% and in line with the RBI estimate. Real GVA growth is estimated 4.9% in 2019-20 as against 6.6% in 2018-19.
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