Stock market today: India VIX up by 3%, NTPC, BPCL take lead in early morning trade

Both indices, Sensex and Nifty opened the day in red. While Nifty was down by 0.28% to trade at 24,461.7 points. Sensex was also down by 0.31%, trading at 80,353.25 as of 9:30 am.

Ultratech Cement, NTPC, BPCL, Infosys and Dr. Reddy were amongst the top gainers in early morning trade, while Wipro, Kotak Bank, Reliance, Eicher Motors and Larsen and Toubro were amongst the leading laggards.

Ahead of the budget, which is set to be presented tomorrow, all broad market indices opened the day in red, except for India VIX, a gauge for market volatility, which was up by 3.64% during early trade. Nifty microcap and small caps shed over 1% each on opening.

As for sectoral indices, auto, realty, consumer durables and oil and gas were down 1% each in opening trade. Only FMCG managed to gain a week start and opened the week in green.

Over the weekend, HDFC Bank reported its Q1FY25 results. The bank's profit after tax (PAT) jumped to Rs 161.8 billion, up by 35.3% on YoY basis, while its advances for the quarter were Rs 24,635 billion, up by 52.5% YoY, but down by 0.9% quarterly. As for its deposits, at Rs 23,790 billion for the quarter, marked a 24.4% uptick YoY, but remained flat over quarters. The bank's net interest income (NII) stood at Rs 298.4 billion, up by 26.4% YoY. Even the bank's net non performing assets ratio (NPA) stood at 0.39% down 1 bps YoY, and up 6 bps QoQ. The share inched up by 0.78% to trade at Rs 1,619.8 in early trade.

Kotak, which also reported its Q1FY25 results over the weekend, saw its PAT jump to Rs 6,250 crore, up 81% YoY. Its Net Interest Income (NII) for Q1FY25 increased to Rs 6,842 crore, up 10% YoY. Net Interest Margin (NIM) was 5.02% for April-June 2024. While total advances inched up 20% YoY to Rs 4,05,957 crore as at June 30, 2024, average total deposits grew to Rs 4,35,603 crore, up 21% YoY. During early trade today, the share was trading at Rs 1,756.25, down by 3.59%.

Mr. Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares notes that the candlestick pattern on the weekly and daily charts denotes weakness. An early indication from GIFT Nifty suggests the same, tepid opening of the Indian equities. A level of 24,200 will serve as strong support while the higher side is capped at 24,800, he said.

"Range (52,100-52,750) breakout in Bank Nifty is necessary for a clear direction. On a sectoral front, a mixed view can be seen where we are recommending booking profits on the Auto segment while we are bullish on the FMCG and IT sectors. The Energy and Metal sectors are indicating weakness by forming a bearish engulfing candle and consolidation breakdown respectively. Weakness was seen in the Broader markets also as Mid and Smallcap space has formed a bearish divergence in RSI. Ahead of the Union Budget, we are suggesting to remain light on trading positions and to focus on risk management", he continued.