Barometers turn rangebound; bank shares in demand

The domestic equity benchmarks traded in a narrow range with moderate gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 24,800 level. Bank shares advanced after declining in the past trading session. Trading could be volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 216.16 points or 0.27% to 81,124.04. The Nifty 50 index added 62.60 points or 0.25% to 24,832.80.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.54% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.61%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,531 shares rose and 1,301 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The latest HSBC 'flash' PMI survey, compiled by S&P Global, also highlighted a sharp upturn in new business intakes, solid job creation and upbeat expectations towards growth prospects. On the price front, there were softer increases in both input costs and selling prices.

The headline HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index ' a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors ' stood at 60.5 in August, little changed from 60.7 in July and pointing to a sharp rate of expansion that was above its long-run trend level (54.6).

There was a softer increase in manufacturing industry output and a fractionally stronger rise in activity across the service economy. Yet, the former led the upturn.

The HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI ' a single-figure snapshot of factory business conditions calculated from measures of new orders, output, employment, supplier delivery times and stocks of purchases ' slipped from 58.1 in July to a three-month low of 57.9 in August.

The latest reading was nevertheless above the historical average (54.0) and signaled a strong improvement in the health of the sector.

Goods producers reported the first decline in outstanding business volumes in just under a year, while service providers indicated a thirty-second consecutive monthly rise. The pace of accumulation was mild among the latter, and the weakest since February.

The HSBC Flash India Services PMI rose to 60.4 in August from 60.3 in July.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 3.33% to 12.89. The Nifty 29 August 2024 futures were trading at 24,852.30, at a premium of 19.50 points as compared with the spot at 24,832.80.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 August 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 49.6 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 69.4 lakh contracts were seen at 24,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index rose 0.60% to 50,988.75. The index shed 0.23% in the past trading session.

IDFC First Bank (up 2.62%), Bandhan Bank (up 1.61%), AU Small Finance Bank (up 1.39%), Punjab National Bank (up 1.22%), ICICI Bank (up 0.89%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.87%), State Bank of India (up 0.77%), IndusInd Bank (up 0.7%), HDFC Bank (up 0.49%) and Axis Bank (up 0.02%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Aarti Drugs jumped 6.38% after the company announced that its board will meet on Monday, 26 August 2024, to consider a proposal for buyback of fully paid-up equity shares of the company.

Welspun Enterprises rose 1.09% after the company said that its material subsidiary, Welspun Michigan Engineers (WMEL) received letter of acceptance (LOA) from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), aggregating to Rs 159.75 crore.

GMR Airports Infrastructure rose 0.58% informed that it has received a letter of award (LOA) from Delhi International Airport (DIAL) to develop, operate, manage and maintain the duty-free outlets at IGI Airport, New Delhi (Delhi Duty Free).