Nifty below 24,800 level; metal shares lose sheen

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with moderate cuts in the early afternoon trade after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on branded drug imports starting from 1 Oct 2025, pressuring pharma stocks despite generics being exempt. The Nifty traded below the 24,800 level. Metal shares declined after advancing in the past trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 414.06 points or 0.51% to 80,745.62. The Nifty 50 index lost 134.10 points or 0.54% to 24,753.70.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.16% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.54%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,037 shares rose and 2,901 shares fell. A total of 171 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 1.66% to 10.96. The Nifty 30 September 2025 futures were trading at 24,827.50, at a premium of 73.8 points as compared with the spot at 24,753.70.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 September 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 182.8 lakh contracts at the 24,800 strike price. Maximum put OI of 175.7 lakh contracts was seen at the 24,800 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index fell 1.47% to 9,933.90. The index rose 0.22% in the past trading session.

Hindustan Copper (down 3.59%), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.86%), Vedanta (down 2.81%), Steel Authority of India (down 2.69%), Tata Steel (down 2.27%), National Aluminium Company (down 2.2%), Lloyds Metals & Energy (down 2.02%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.3%), JSW Steel (down 0.96%) and APL Apollo Tubes (down 0.92%) fell.

On the other hand, Jindal Stainless (up 0.94%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Kothari Industrial Corporation locked in the upper circuit of 2% after the company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Accademia IUAD, Italy, a reputed design university, for establishing a joint venture in India.

RailTel fell .97%. The company secured a significant domestic contract worth approximately Rs 970.08 crore from the State Project Director, Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC).

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