The domestic equity barometers hit fresh intraday high in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 19,600 mark. Metal stocks advanced for third day in a row.

At 12:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 231.25 points or 0.35% to 66,292.15. The Nifty 50 index gained 74 points or 0.38% to 19,638.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.31% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.06%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2119 shares rose and 1416 shares fell. A total of 190 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 5.07% to 11.23. The Nifty 27 July 2023 futures were trading at 19,668.35, at a premium of 29.85 points as compared with the spot at 19,638.50.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 July 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 30.7 lakh contracts at the 19,500 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 54.7 lakh contracts were seen at 19,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 1.07% to 6,538.50. The index has added 2.75% in three sessions.

Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (up 6.27%), National Aluminium Company (up 4.31%), APL Apollo Tubes (up 2.82%), Hindustan Copper (up 1.96%) and Welspun Corp (up 1.72%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Adani Enterprises (up 1.34%), Tata Steel (up 1.24%), NMDC (up 1.19%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.15%) and Hindalco Industries (up 1.11%).

On the other hand, Hindustan Zinc (down 1.45%), Jindal Stainless (down 0.85%) and JSW Steel (down 0.32%) turned lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

HDFC Bank rose 0.29%. The bank has allotted 3,11,03,96,492 new equity shares of Rs. 1 each of HDFC Bank according to the share exchange ratio of 42 shares of HDFC Bank for every 25 shares of HDFC Ltd. The bank's paid-up share capital will increase from Rs. 559.17 crore to Rs. 753.75 crore post cancellation of promoter holding of 116.46 crore equity shares. HDFC Bank is a now publicly held company following the merger with no clear promoter.

State Bank of India added 0.47%, The bank has raised MCLR by 5 bps across tenors. The hike is effective from July 15.

The Central Government nominated Ajay Kumar, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India as director on the Central Board of State Bank of India with immediate effect and until further orders.

Ashok Leyland rose 1.19%. The company received significant orders worth Rs 800 crore in defence sector. The contracts awarded also include the procurement of the Field Artillery Tractor (FAT 4x4) and the Gun Towing Vehicle (GTV 6x6). The FAT 4x4 and GTV 6x6 are specialized vehicles employed by the Artillery for towing light and medium guns, respectively. Both these platforms were prominently featured in the initial positive indigenization list announced by the Government of India.

Route Mobile fell 3.85%. The company said that the Proximus Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire through Proximus Opal, approximately 58% interest in Route Mobile, a global company specialized in CPaaS services.

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