The key equity benchmarks traded with substantial gains in early-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 23,350 mark. Auto shares rallied for fifth consecutive trading session.
At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 644.02 points or 0.85% to 76,992.06. The Nifty 50 index rallied 184.30 points or 0.79% to 23,374.95.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.09% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumped 1.61%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,809 shares rose and 1,055 shares fell. A total of 150 shares were unchanged.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto index rose 1.32% to 21,909.15. The index jumped 6.59% in the five consecutive trading sessions.
TVS Motor Company (up 3.39%), Ashok Leyland (up 2.2%), Hero MotoCorp (up 2.09%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.77%) and Bajaj Auto (up 1.64%), Samvardhana Motherson International (up 1.59%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.45%), Exide Industries (up 1.45%), Eicher Motors (up 1.32%) and Tata Motors (up 1.01%) surged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, added 1.65% to 13.50. The Nifty 27 March 2025 futures were trading at 23,382.55 , at a premium of 7.6 points as compared with the spot at 23,374.95.
The Nifty option chain for the 27 March 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 117.5 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 157.2 lakh contracts was seen at 23,000 strike price.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Rail Vikas Nigam added 1.61% after the company announced that it has received letter of acceptance (LoA) from National Highway Authority of India for a project worth Rs 554.64 crore.
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank added 1.22% after the bank announced appointment of Sanjoy Kumar Goel as chief financial officer (CFO), effective from 20 March 2025, on a contractual basis.