Indices trade with minor cuts; VIX drops over 5%

The key domestic benchmarks traded with slight losses in early afternoon trade amid the ongoing war between Iran, Israel and US, while crude oil prices hovered above $100 per barrel mark. Investors are also closely tracking movements in crude oil and gold prices. The Nifty traded near the 23,400 level.

IT shares declined for sixth consecutive trading session.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 22 points or 0.03% to 75,486.17. The Nifty 50 index fell 5.40 points or 0.02% to 23,400.60.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.33% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.05%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 2,100 shares rose and 1,925 shares fell. A total of 192 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2026 settlement jumped $3.63 or 3.62% to $103.84 a barrel.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 5.46% to 20.42. The Nifty 30 March 2026 futures were trading at 23,422, at a premium of 21.4 points as compared with the spot at 23,400.60.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 March 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 42.2 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 49.2 lakh contracts was seen at the 23,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 1.03% to 28,744.20. The index declined 4.70% in the six consecutive trading sessions. The sell-off has been largely driven by concerns that generative AI could disrupt traditional revenue streams such as application development, testing, and maintenance, which account for a significant share of industry revenues. Industry estimates suggest AI could impact 25-30% of such work and potentially dent overall revenues by 10-12% over the next few years, while also leading to slower hiring and efficiency-driven workforce changes.

Persistent Systems (down 2.83%), Wipro (down 2.46%), Coforge (down 2.34%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.65%), Infosys (down 1.32%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.96%), HCL Technologies (down 0.67%) and LTIMindtree (down 0.27%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NOCIL jumped 6.33% after the company's board approved a capital expenditure of approximately Rs 130 crore for capacity expansion of its rubber chemicals portfolio at its Dahej plant in Gujarat.

Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts rose 0.05%. The company announced the acquisition of an ultra-luxury resort in Coorg, marking its entry into immersive, nature-led and wellness-focused hospitality. The property also has significant land reserves, with plans to add 19 villas in the first phase, taking total inventory to 90 keys.

Tamilnadu Petroproducts declined 1.38% after the company said that the operations at its Propylene Oxide plant in Manali have been temporarily shutdown. The disruption follows a government directive to suspend crude-based feedstock supplies to downstream industries amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Consequent to this, there is a stoppage of propylene supply, the key raw material for PO plant, leading to temporary disruption in the operations of PO plant at Manali.

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