Nifty gains marginally; closes at all time high level

Taking cues from the consolidation in previous session, and opening the session on a positive note, the Nifty witnessed a grand tussle between the bulls and the bears throughout the day but closed in the positive territory taking home gains of around one tenth of a percent. The sentiments got some support after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley committing to more reforms and eliminating corruption, stated that steps taken by the new government were aimed at creating fair and transparent business environment and ending crony capitalism. Besides, falling global crude oil prices, which dipped to its lowest closing point since October 2011 also influenced trading sentiments as the slump in crude prices, will lead to a substantial decline in India's import bill. In other words, lower fiscal deficit and further easing in inflation. Some support came in from reports that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,413 crore on November 03, 2014. However, gains remained capped as traders remained cautious on the National Council of Applied Economic Research’s (NCAER) latest projection, where it has lowered India’s GDP growth forecast to 5 percent in the current financial year on weak economical fundamentals and uncertainties in growth prospects. Traders were seen piling positions in Banking, information technology (IT) and Capital Goods sector while selling was witnessed in Metal, Power and Oil & Gas sector stocks.

After gap up opening, nifty showed some strength in early morning trades however, it failed to breach the narrow 42-point range for most part of the day, ending the session above its crucial 8,300 mark with a gain of over one tenth of a percent.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Hexaware Technologies, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Bharat Forge. On the other hand, the top losers were Divi's Laboratories, Jindal Steel & Power and Cairn India. In the index options segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8500-8400 calls and 8100-8000 puts indicating the expected trading range. Meanwhile, India VIX - the gauge of underlying volatility in the market - has risen in today's session, which shows that traders were buying more options contracts as insurance against declines in the market.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 0.13% and reached 13.75. The 50-share CNX Nifty increased by 14.15 points or 0.17% to settle at 8,338.30. Nifty November 2014 futures closed at 8380.15 on Wednesday at a premium of 41.85 points over spot closing of 8,338.30, while Nifty December 2014 futures ended at 8432.55 at a premium of 94.25 points over spot closing. Nifty November futures saw addition of 1.27 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.69 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on November 27, 2014.

From the most active contracts, HDFC Bank November 2014 futures traded at a premium of 10.45 points at 922.75 compared with spot closing of 912.30. The number of contracts traded were 22,161.

Reliance Industries November 2014 futures traded at a premium of 8.75 points at 997.75 compared with spot closing of 989.00. The number of contracts traded were 25,535.

Tata Steel November 2014 futures traded at a premium of 1.45 points at 479.75 compared with spot closing of 478.30. The number of contracts traded were 18,099.

Tata Motors November 2014 futures traded at a premium of 0.85 points at 537.05 compared with spot closing of 536.20. The number of contracts traded were 18,340.

Bharti Airtel November 2014 futures traded at a premium of 0.45 points at 387.15 compared with spot closing of 386.70. The number of contracts traded were 15,137.

Among Nifty calls, 8400 SP from the October month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.17 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8,300 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.67 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8500 SP (4.29 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,000 SP (5.62 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8361.40--- Pivot Point 8342.45--- Support --- 8319.35.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.27 for November month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Siemens (1.20), Bajaj-Auto (1.15), Axis Bank (1.15), Oriental Bank Of Commerce (1.12) and DLF (1.08). 

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.11 million of Open Interest in the November month futures contract, followed by ICICI Bank witnessing an addition of 0.04 million of Open Interest in the November  month contract; while Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.09 million of Open Interest, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.45 million of Open Interest in the November month contract and Axis Bank witnessed an addition of 1.20 million of Open Interest in the November month's future contract.