Nifty slides below 24,300; financial services under pressure

The key equity benchmarks traded with minor losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 24,300 level after hitting day’s high of 24,359.95 in early trade. Financial services shares declined after advancing for the fourth consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 207.19 points or 0.26% to 79,437.74. The Nifty 50 index declined 58.95 points or 0.24% to 24,288.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.10% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.04%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,661 shares rose and 2,116 shares fell. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.

Economy :

India’s CPI inflation in July 2024 stood at 3.54%, which is the lowest since August 2019, according to official data released on Monday, August 12. In the previous month of June 2024, India’s retail inflation had stood at 5.08%.

Meanwhile, India’s IIP recorded a growth of 4.2% in June 2024. The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) witnessed a growth of 4% in June 2023.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 1.29% to 15.66. The Nifty 29 August 2024 futures were trading at 24,313.50, at a premium of 25.45 points as compared with the spot at 24,288.05.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 August 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 39.5 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 44.3 lakh contracts were seen at 24,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services index fell 0.92% to 22,816.15. The index added 2.23% in the past four consecutive trading sessions.

HDFC Bank (down 2.98%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (down 1.59%), Shriram Finance (down 1.4%), SBI Life Insurance Company (down 0.73%), Bajaj Finance (down 0.4%), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (down 0.22%), Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company (down 0.14%), HDFC Asset Management Company (down 0.05%) declined.

On the other hand, LIC Housing Finance (up 1.06%) ,SBI Cards & Payment Services (up 0.84%) and State Bank of India (up 0.68%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers fell 2.95% after the company’s consolidated net profit slipped 84.04% to Rs 10.80 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared with Rs 67.69 crore posted in same period last year. Revenue from operations grew by 8.73% year on year (YoY) to Rs 4,396.06 crore during the quarter ended June 2024.

Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) rose 0.35%. The company’s net profit grew by 1.65% to Rs 1,576.83 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 1,551.28 crore posted in Q1 FY24. Total revenue from operations rose by 1.37% year on year (YoY) to Rs 6,765.63 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2024.