Nifty below 24,050 mark; IT shares in demand

The key equity benchmarks reversed gains and traded with minor cuts in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,050 mark after hitting the day's high of 24,382.60 in early trade. Metal shares advanced after declining for the past three consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 60.53 points or 0.08% to 78,698.87. The Nifty 50 index declined 28.95 points or 0.12% to 24,026.65.

The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.35% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.21%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,875 shares rose and 1,998 shares fell. A total of 116 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 8.34% to 18.67.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.58% to 38,658.40. The index slipped 5.03% in the three consecutive trading sessions.

Tech Mahindra (up 1.97%), LTIMindtree (up 1.6%), HCL Technologies (up 1.45%), Wipro (up 1.22%) and L&T Technology Services (up 1.11%), Coforge (up 0.52%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 0.44%), Mphasis (up 0.33%), Persistent Systems (up 0.25%) edged higher.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal rallied 1.90% to 6.990 as compared with previous close 6.971.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.9450, compared with its close of 84.0975 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 October 2024 settlement rose 0.02% to Rs 69,321.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.25% to 102.94.

The United States 10-year bond yield gained 1.73% to 3.845.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for October 2024 settlement added 24 cents or 0.31% to $76.54 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Schneider Electric Infrastructure surged 6.46% after the company's net profit jumped 38.83% to Rs 48.48 crore in Q1 FY25 from Rs 34.92 crore in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations grew by 19.72% year on year (YoY) to Rs 592.91 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2024.

Tata Chemicals shed 0.09%. The chemical maker’s consolidated net profit from continuing operations declined 69.72% to Rs 175 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared to Rs 578 crore posted in Q1 FY24. The company’s revenue from operations fell 10.17% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 3,789 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2024.