Market trade sideways; media shares in demand

The frontline indices traded sideways in early afternoon trade, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that persistent tariff hikes could slow growth and drive long-term inflation. Investor sentiment was also weighed down by rising Indo-Pak tensions. The Nifty traded below the 24,450 mark. Market volatility was heightened due to the weekly expiry of the Nifty F&O series today.

Media shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 45.17 points or 0.06% to 80,791.95. The Nifty 50 index lost 11.20 points or 0.05% to 24,402.20.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.19% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumped 1.34%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,573 shares rose and 1,106 shares fell. A total of 156 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.95% to 18.50. The Nifty 29 May 2025 futures were trading at 24,482, at a premium of 81.5 points as compared with the spot at 24,400.50.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 May 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 44.5 lakh contracts at the 24,500 strike price. A maximum put OI of 67.9 lakh contracts was seen at 24,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index rose 2.14% to 1,556.55. The index rallied 3.22% in the past two consecutive trading sessions.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 4.5%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 2.64%), Nazara Technologies (up 2.04%), PVR Inox (up 1.41%), Sun TV Network (up 1.15%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 1.04%), Tips Music (up 1.04%) and Saregama India (up 0.51%) advanced.

On the other hand, D B Corp (down 2.37%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Voltas added 1.20% after the company's consolidated net profit zoomed 106.99% to Rs 241.02 crore in Q4 FY25, compared with Rs 116.44 crore in Q4 FY24. Total income jumped 13.85% year on year to Rs 4,847.25 in the fourth quarter of FY25.

Sonata Software advanced 0.83%. The IT company's consolidated net profit rose 2% to Rs 107.5 crore in Q4 FY25 as compared with Rs 105 crore in Q3 FY25. Revenue from operations fell 7.94% QoQ to Rs 2,617.20 crore during the quarter ended 31st March 2025.

Route Mobile rallied 0.84%. The company reported a 9.34% jump in standalone net profit to Rs 25.76 crore on a 12.41% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 208.38 crore in Q4 FY25 compared to Q4 FY24.

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