Key barometers extended gains in early afternoon trade, supported by strength in IT stocks. At 12:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 629.59 points or 1.64% at 38,926.88. The Nifty 50 index was up 185.7 points or 1.66% at 11,387.45.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.25% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.57%.

The market breadth was titled in favour of bulls. On the BSE, 1511 shares rose and 686 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 44 stocks advanced while 6 stocks declined.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 7.39% to 21.5175. The Nifty February 2020 futures were trading at 11,371.15, a discount of 21.35 points compared with the spot at 11,392.50. Nifty Futures continued to experience backwardation. Backwardation occurs when the current spot price is higher than the prices trading in futures market.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 26 March 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 22.63 lakh contracts at the 12,000 strike price. Call writing was witnessed at 11,300 strike price, which added 1.6 lakh contracts. Call unwinding was seen at 11,500 strike price which shed 1.18 lakh contracts.

Maximum put OI of 21.51 lakh contracts was seen at 11,800 strike price.

Put writing was observed at 11,300 strike price which added 3.35 lakh contracts. Put unwinding was observed at 11,700 strike price which shed 1.04 lakh contracts.

The F&O contracts for March expire on 26 March 2020.

Buzzing Index:

IT stocks were in demand after rupee depreciated against the dollar. The Nifty IT index was up 2.73% at 15,628.50, snapping its three days losing streak. The index slumped 8.15% in last three trading sessions.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 72.315, compared with its close of 72.2400 during the previous trading session.

NIIT Technologies (up 6.11%), HCL Technologies (up 4.3%), Infosys (up 3.97%), TCS (up 2.3%), Zensar Technologies (up 2.23%), Wipro (up 1.56%), MindTree (up 1.55%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.75%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.45%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 0.11%) advanced.

A weak rupee boosts revenues of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Shares of parent company State Bank of India (SBI) were up 1.47% at Rs 307.35.

The initial public offer (IPO) of SBI Cards and Payment Services received bids for 92.03 lakh shares so far today, 2 March 2020, as against 10.02 crore shares on offer, as per the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) website data at 11:45 IST. The issue was subscribed 0.09 times.

The issue opened for bidding today, 2 March 2020 and it will close on Thursday, 5 March 2020. The price band has been fixed at Rs 750 to Rs 755 per share.

The company on 28 February 2020 raised Rs 2,769 crore from anchor investors, ahead of its initial share sale. The company allotted 3.66 crore shares to a total of 74 anchor investors, including 12 mutual funds, through 48 schemes, at the upper end of the price band at Rs 755.

Tata Motors announced dismal auto sales numbers on Sunday, 1 March 2020. Tata Motors' total sales for the month of February 2020 declined 32.44% and at 40,634 units in February 2020, as compared to 60,151 units reported in February 2019. The company's domestic sales tanked 34% to 38,002 units for the month of February 2020 as against 57,221 units in the month of February 2019. Shares of Tata Motors were up 0.7%.

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