The key equity indices traded with minor gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,550 mark. Oil & gas shares extended gains for the fourth consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 157.23 points or 0.20% to 80,676.57. The Nifty 50 index added 78.65 points or 0.32% to 24,584.85.

The Nifty 50 index index hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 24,611.85 in early afternoon trade.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.64% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.18%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,988 shares rose and 1,863 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number came in at 3.36% (Provisional) for the month of June, as compared with 2.61% in the previous month of May 2024, according to the latest official data.

Positive rate of inflation in June, 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, manufacture of food products, crude petroleum & natural gas, mineral oils, other manufacturing etc. The month over month change in WPI for the month of June, 2024 stood at 0.39% as compared to May, 2024.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 3.07% to 14.15. The Nifty 25 July 2024 futures were trading at 24,601.20, at a premium of 16.35 points as compared with the spot at 24,584.85.

The Nifty option chain for the 25 July 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 35.7 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 64.4 lakh contracts were seen at 23,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index added 1.29% to 13,020.95. The index jumped 3.05% in the four consecutive trading sessions.

Mahanagar Gas (up 2.93%), GAIL (India) (up 2.83%), Petronet LNG (up 2.79%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 2.49%), Indraprastha Gas (up 1.95%), Gujarat Gas (up 1.86%), Castrol India (up 1.65%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 1.59%), Oil India (up 1.45%) and Gujarat State Petronet (up 1.27%) edged higher.

On the other hand, Aegis Logistics (down 0.4%), Reliance Industries (down 0.02%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight :

Ashok Leyland gained 1.28% after the company announced that it has bagged single largest fully built bus order from the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) for 2,104 units of Viking passenger bus.

Antony Waste Handling Cell soared 6.36% after the company’s primary core revenues increased by 11% year-on-year in Q1 FY25.

Indian Renewable Energy Development of India (IREDA) gained 3.65% after the company’s consolidated net profit jumped 30% to Rs 383.69 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared with Rs 294.58 crore in Q1 FY24.