Sensex rises 437 pts; oil & gas shares advance; VIX rallies 5.81%
The domestic equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in early afternoon trade, supported by U.S. President Donald Trump initially issuing and then softening threats of increased tariffs on European imports over the weekend, and by the Reserve Bank of India's decision to pay Rs 2.68 lakh crore as a dividend to the central government for FY25. Investors will closely monitor global trade developments and the upcoming Q4 results of the companies across various sectors. The Nifty traded above the 24,950 mark.
Oil & Gas shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading sessions.
At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 436.91 points or 0.53% to 82,157.99. The Nifty 50 index advanced 134.10 points or 0.55% to 24,987.25.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.44% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumped 0.59%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,286 shares rose and 1,615 shares fell. A total of 224 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday handed the government a whopping Rs 2.68 lakh crore in surplus for FY25, 27% more than last year and even higher than what the Union Budget had estimated. Analysts suggest that this additional amount could support the governments objective of reducing the fiscal deficit to 4.4% for the current financial year.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied 5.81% to 18.28. The Nifty 29 May 2025 futures were trading at 25,003.70, at a premium of 16.45 point as compared with the spot at 24,987.25.
The Nifty option chain for the 29 May 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 133 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 118 lakh contracts was seen at 24,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.64% to 11,541.35. The index rallied 1.42% in two consecutive trading sessions.
Adani Total Gas (up 2.19%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 2.01%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 1.16%), Oil India (up 1.1%), Reliance Industries (up 0.92%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 0.67%), GAIL (India) (up 0.47%), Gujarat Gas (up 0.15%), Petronet LNG (up 0.14%) and Indraprastha Gas (up 0.12%) advanced.
On the other hand, Aegis Logistics (down 0.60%), Mahanagar Gas (down 0.25%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.15%) edged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Indigo Paints added 1.51% after the companys consolidated net profit rose 5.99% to Rs 56.90 crore in Q4 FY25 as against Rs 53.68 crore in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations increased marginally to Rs 387.56 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2025, compared to Rs 384.88 crore in the same period a year ago.
GE Vernova T&D India hit an upper circuit of 10% after the companys standalone net profit surged 181.3% to Rs 186.50 crore on a 26.15% jump in revenue from operations to Rs 1,152.54 crore in Q4 FY25 over Q4 FY24.
Finolex Industries surged 5.86% after the company's standalone net profit surged 111.75% to Rs 150.26 crore while net sales rose 17.04% to Rs 1,171.81 crore in Q4 March 2025 over Q3 December 2024.
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