The domestic equity benchmarks continued to trade with major losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 24,250 mark. Pharma shares slipped after advancing in the past two consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 760.75 points or 0.95% to 79,617.20. The Nifty 50 index fell 260.55 points or 1.06% to 24,223.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.38% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.05%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,952 shares rose and 1,876 shares fell. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, added 2.52% to 15.24. The Nifty 28 November 2024 futures were trading at 24,308, at a premium of 84.6 points as compared with the spot at 24,223.40.

The Nifty option chain for the 28 November 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 32.2 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 40.4 lakh contracts were seen at 23,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index fell 1.73% to 22,523.05. The index rose 0.61% for the past two trading session.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 5.5%), Ajanta Pharma (down 4.29%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 2.8%), Gland Pharma (down 2.37%), Alkem Laboratories (down 2.24%), Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (down 2.18%), Lupin (down 1.72%), Zydus Lifesciences (down 1.6%), Cipla (down 1.44%) and Torrent Pharmaceuticals (down 1.41%) slipped.

On the other hand, Biocon (up 0.9%), Granules India (up 0.73%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise jumped 6.20% after the company reported 62.64% surge in consolidated net profit to Rs 378.8 crore in Q2 FY25 as against Rs 232.9 crore posted in Q2 FY24. Revenue from operations increased 15.31% year on year (YoY) to Rs 5,589.3 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2024.

Kirloskar Ferrous Industries slipped 1.84% after the company reported 4.93% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 77.64 crore in Q2 FY25 as compared to Rs Rs 81.67 crore in Q2 FY24.

Usha Martin added 2.15% after the company reported 5.38% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 109.72 crore in Q2 FY25 as against Rs 104.11 crore posted in Q1 FY25. Revenue from operations added 7.84% to Rs 891.17 crore in Q2 FY25 as against Rs 826.37 crore posted in Q1 FY25.