| The key equity barometers traded with minor gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,250 mark. Oil & gas shares extended their gains for the second consecutive trading session. At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 40.41 points or 0.05% to 77,695.01. The Nifty 50 index rallied 17.30 points or 0.07% to 24,267.10. The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index shed 0.26% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.53%. The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,617 shares rose and 2,347 shares fell. A total of 213 shares were unchanged. Derivatives: The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 1.02% to 12.13. The Nifty 25 August 2026 futures were trading at 24,305.50, at a premium of 38.4 points as compared with the spot at 24,267.10. The Nifty option chain for the 25 August 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 64.3 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price. A maximum put OI of 79.1 lakh contracts was seen at the 24,000 strike price. Buzzing Index: The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.42% to 11,122.30. The index rose 0.48% in the two consecutive trading sessions. Chennai Petroleum Corporation (up 2.69%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 1.64%), Oil India (up 1.59%), Reliance Industries (up 1.07%) and Petronet LNG (up 0.58%), Mahanagar Gas (up 0.25%), Castrol India (up 0.11%) jumped. Stocks in Spotlight: V-Guard Industries soared 5.41% after the company's consolidated net profit climbed 76.37% to Rs 130.25 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 73.85 crore in Q1 FY25. Revenue from operations increased 23.5% YoY to Rs 1,810.65 crore in Q1 FY27, reflecting broad-based growth across product categories and geographies. Chalet Hotels fell 4.24% after the company's consolidated net profit tanked 57.60% to Rs 86.12 crore on 42.73% decrease in revenue from operations to Rs 512.27 crore in Q1 FY27 over Q1 FY26. Powered by Capital Market - Live News |