The key equity benchmarks traded with significant gains in early afternoon trade, following the Reserve Bank of India's announcement of several measures to boost liquidity in the banking system. The Nifty traded above the 23,000 level. Financial services shares gained after declining for the previous three consecutive trading sessions.
At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 760.26 points or 1.02% to 76,134.21. The Nifty 50 index advanced 181.25 points or 0.79% to 23,010.40.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.44% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.92%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 848 shares rose and 2,940 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
The Reserve Bank of India on Monday said it will purchase government securities worth Rs 60,000 crore in three tranches and announced several other steps to inject liquidity into the banking system. As part of measures to manage liquidity conditions, the central bank also announced a USD/INR buy/sell swap auction of USD 5 billion for a period of six months to be held on January 31, 2025. To inject liquidity, RBI said open market operations (OMO) purchase auctions of Government of India securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 60,000 crore in three tranches of Rs 20,000 crore each will be held on January 30, February 13, and February 20.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.23% to 18.09. The Nifty 30 January 2025 futures were trading at 23,053.85, at a discount of 43.45 points as compared with the spot at 23,010.40.
The Nifty option chain for the 30 January 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 123.6 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 116.9 lakh contracts was seen at 22,000 strike
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Financial Services index rose 2.25% to 22,887.40. The index declined 1.03% in the past three consecutive trading sessions.
Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company (up 5.05%), Axis Bank (up 3.78%), HDFC Bank (up 2.95%), ICICI Bank (up 2.7%), Bajaj Finance (up 2.63%), Shriram Finance (up 2.13%), Bajaj Finserv (up 1.95%), LIC Housing Finance (up 1.48%), SBI Cards & Payment Services (up 0.96%), and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (up 0.49%) added.
On the other hand, Multi Commodity Exchange of India (down 2.01%), REC (down 1.7%), and Muthoot Finance (down 0.75%) edged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Union Bank of India jumped 5.71% after the bank’s standalone net profit jumped 28.23% to Rs 4,603.63 crore on 7.67% increase in total income to Rs 31,374.5 crore in Q3 FY25 over Q3 FY24.
Bajaj Housing Finance rallied 8.43% after the firm reported a 25.41% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 548.02 crore on a 25.82% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 2,448.98 crore in Q3 FY25 compared with Q3 FY24.
Azad Engineering tumbled 7.90%. The company said that it has secured a purchase order from Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL) for the supply of advanced, high-complex rotating airfoils for supercritical turbines.