The benchmark indices traded with modest gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded around the 22,750 mark. Oil & gas shares witnessed buying demand for the fifth consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 308.14 points or 0.42% to 74,984.04. The Nifty 50 index added 103.85 points or 0.46% to 22,747.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.73% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.46%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,021 shares rose and 1,651 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.

Stock exchanges will remain closed on Wednesday, 1 May 2024 on account of Maharashtra Day.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 5.88% to 12.96. The Nifty 30 May 2024 futures were trading at 22,822.80, at a premium of 75.55 points as compared with the spot at 22,747.25.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 May 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 23.9 lakh contracts at the 22,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 35.2 lakh contracts were seen at 22,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index added 0.86% to 12,001.15. The index rallied 3.62% in five consecutive trading sessions.

Petronet LNG (up 3.34%), Indraprastha Gas (up 2.58%), Mahanagar Gas (up 1.84%), Oil India (up 1.3%), Adani Total Gas (up 1.08%), Reliance Industries (up 0.99%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 0.91%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 0.67%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 0.51%) and GAIL (India) (up 0.48%) advanced.

On the other hand, Aegis Logistics (down 2.46%) and Castrol India (down 0.38%), edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) shed 0.47%. The civil construction major said that the company’s joint venture entity KRDCL-RVNL has has received letter of acceptance (LoA) from Southern Railway for a project worth Rs 438.95 crore.

UCO Bank shed 0.48%. The private lender’s standalone net profit declined 9.54% to Rs 525.77 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared to Rs 581.24 crore reported in Q4 FY23. However, total income grew 17.45% to Rs 6,984.61 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024.