Barometers turn rangebound; Media shares decline

The domestic benchmarks traded in a narrow range with substantial losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,800 level. Media shares extended losses for the second consecutive trading session. Trading was volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 451.98 points or 0.55% to 81,056.02. The Nifty 50 index declined 181.10 points or 0.73% to 24,790.20.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.26% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.09%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,271shares rose and 2,562 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The Union Cabinet has approved an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 1 July 2024 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rate of 50% of the basic pay/pension, to compensate against price rise. This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs.9,448.35 crore per annum. This will benefit about 49.18 lakh central government employees and 64.89 lakh pensioners.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, gained 2.03% to 13.32. The Nifty 31 October 2024 futures were trading at 24,872.70, at a premium of 82.50 points as compared with the spot at 24,790.20.

The Nifty option chain for the 31 October 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 61.7 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 44.8 lakh contracts were seen at 24,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index slipped 1.64% to 2,025.60. The index fell 2.11% in two consecutive trading sessions.

Network 18 Media & Investments (down 3.52%), Saregama India (down 3.49%), Dish TV India (down 2.08%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 1.9%), Sun TV Network (down 1.31%), Nazara Technologies (down 1.29%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 1.16%), Tips Music (down 0.86%) and PVR Inox (down 0.59%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 0.58%. The company set Monday, 28 October 2024, as the record date for the proposed 1:1 bonus share issue.

Aditya Birla Money was locked in an upper circuit of 2% after the company reported 123.90% surge in net profit to Rs 26.69 crore in Q2 FY25 as compared with Rs 11.92 crore posted in Q2 FY24. Revenue from operations jumped 30.39% year on year (YoY) to Rs 125.66 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2024.

Kolte-Patil Developers rallied 8% after the company's sales value jumped 21.84% to Rs 770 crore in Q2 FY25 as compared with Rs 632 crore in Q2 FY24.