The key equity barometers traded with modest gains in the early afternoon trade as investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision and continued to assess the ongoing corporate earnings season. Market sentiment remained volatile due to the weekly expiry of Nifty 50 derivatives contracts, leading to heightened intraday swings. The Nifty traded a tad above the 24,000 level. Auto shares extended their gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 87.85 points or 0.11% to 76,923.63. The Nifty 50 index rallied 24.05 points or 0.10% to 24,017.95.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index shed 0.01% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.45%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,567 shares rose and 2,387 shares fell. A total of 253 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 0.94% to 12.54. The Nifty 25 August 2026 futures were trading at 24,125, at a premium of 17.45 points as compared with the spot at 23,961.35.

The Nifty option chain for the 25 August 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 73.6 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. A maximum put OI of 75 lakh contracts was seen at the 24,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 0.65% to 27,832.10. The index rose 2.18% in the two consecutive trading sessions.

Exide Industries (up 2.93%), TVS Motor Company (up 2.63%), Ashok Leyland (up 2.01%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.19%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.91%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.49%), Eicher Motors (up 0.41%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.15%), Uno Minda (up 0.03%) jumped.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tejas Networks tumbled 6.59% after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 202.24 crore in Q1 FY27, compared with a net loss of Rs 193.87 crore posted in Q1 FY26. However, the company's total revenue from operations jumped 99.10% to Rs 402.16 crore in Q1 FY27 as against Rs 201.98 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Hindustan Unilever fell 3.35% after the FMCG major reported a 3.01% year-on-year (YoY) decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,673 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2026 (Q1 FY27), compared with Rs 2,756 crore in Q1 FY26. Revenue from operations jumped 10.3% YoY to Rs 17,184 crore in Q1 FY27.

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