Sensex rises over 800 pts; Nifty above 24,850; ITC gains 2%

The headline equity benchmarks traded with significant gains in early afternoon trade, supported by ITC. However, further upside may be capped due to concerns over foreign fund flows and the weakening fiscal outlook of the United States. Media stocks extended gains for the third consecutive trading session. The Nifty traded above the 24,850 mark.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, zoomed 823.31 points or 1.03% to 81,782.39. The Nifty 50 index advanced 263.75 points or 1.07% to 24,875.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 0.51% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumped 0.60%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,264 shares rose and 1,444 shares fell. A total of 196 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Global rating agency Fitch Ratings has raised India's GDP growth potential by 0.2 percentage points to 6.4% over the next five years. The move comes following a sharper rise in the country's labour force participation rate in recent years. Fitch highlighted that the revised estimate for India shows a stronger contribution from labour inputs, mainly total employment.

At the same time, the global rating agency has scaled down China's growth projection by 0.3 percentage points to 4.3% from 4.6% earlier. The changes are part of Fitch's revised assessment of potential GDP growth for 10 emerging market economies over the next five years.

India continues to remain the world's fastest growing major economy and the only country expected to clock over 6% growth in the next two years, according to an IMF report released last month. The IMF has trimmed the growth forecast for over 120 countries.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.76% to 17.39. The Nifty 29 May 2025 futures were trading at 24,860, at a discount of 15.35 point as compared with the spot at 24,875.35.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 May 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 112.5 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 105 lakh contracts was seen at 24,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index rose 1.10% to 1,692.50. The index added 2.65% in the three consecutive trading sessions.

PVR Inox (up 2.29%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 1.42%), Saregama India (up 1.12%), Nazara Technologies (up 1.11%), D B Corp (up 0.69%), Sun TV Network (up 0.61%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 0.46%), Dish TV India (up 0.38%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 0.25%) added.

Stocks in Spotlight:

ITC added 2.52% after the company's standalone net profit spiked 289.65% to Rs 19,561.57 crore in Q4 FY25 as against Rs 5,020.20 crore posted in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations (excluding excise duty) was at Rs 17,248.21 crore in the March quarter FY25, up 9.26% year on year.

Hubtown rallied 3.66% after the company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 3.53 crore in Q4 FY25 compared with net loss of Rs 88.6 crore in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations tanked 8.54% year on year (YoY) to Rs 105.79 crore in the March 2025 quarter.

Lloyds Engineering Works jumped 4.95% after the company announced that it has received an order from Cochin Shipyard for the supply of 'fin stabilizer systems' for next generation missile vessel.

Indoco Remedies rose 1.97% after the company announced that it has received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Allopurinol tablets.

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