Nifty ends higher amid choppy trades

Barometer 50 share index- CNX Nifty - amidst a very volatile session ended the last trading day of the truncated week on a positive note with a gain of over one tenths of a percent. Markets swung between the positive and negative territory for most part of the day as gains in defensive sectors such as pharma and FMCG helped offset losses in Metal and IT majors. The sentiments got supported from the report that India expects higher rainfall from the monsoon this year after patchy rains affected farm output last season. Good rains this year could cause the RBI to continue to take the axe to rates. Some support also came with the global rating agency Moody’s statement that the new ‘inflation targeting’ mechanism is a “credit positive” move and it would make RBI’s monetary policy tools much more effective. Moody’s has said that since inflation targeting is forward looking, it would encourage a focus on future, rather than past, price trends. However, traders remained cautious with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) statement that the uncertainty surrounding global oil prices can have an adverse bearing on the inflation outlook though it will endeavour to bring it down to the target of 4% by 2016-17. Meanwhile, some traders remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of Friday's closely-watched US jobs data, while the nervous euro languished at an 11-year low prior to the European Central Bank's policy meeting.

After getting cautious opening, nifty showed some strength in morning trades, but the sentiments turned pessimistic in early afternoon trades and index drifted lower, however the market regained its upward momentum in the final hour of trade and finished the day gaining over one tenths of a percent.

Most of the sectoral indices on the NSE settled in the positive territory with CNX Pharma gaining the most, ending with a gain of 2.48 present followed CNX FMCG up by 1.27 present and CNX Finance up by 0.82 present, while CNX Metal down by 1.79 present, CNX IT down by 0.51 present and CNX Realty down by 0.04 present remained the top losers on NSE sectoral space.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Strides Arcolab, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Adani Power. On the other hand, the top losers were UltraTech Cement, NMDC and Idea Cellular. In the index options segment for March series, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9100-9200 calls and 8800-8700 puts indicating the expected trading range.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 5% and reached 14.43. The 50-share CNX Nifty was up by 15.10 points or 0.17 % to settle at 8,937.75.  Nifty March 2015 futures closed at 8988.75 on Thursday at a premium of 51.00 points over spot closing of 8937.75, while Nifty April 2015 futures ended at 9056.75 at a premium of 119.00 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw contraction of 0.80 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 26.08 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 26, 2015.

From the most active contracts, SBI March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 2.25 points at 295.85 compared with spot closing of 293.60. The number of contracts traded were 31,698.

ICICI Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 3.20 points at 350.20 compared with spot closing of 347.00. The number of contracts traded were 22,678.

ITC March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 348.45 compared with spot closing of 346.95. The number of contracts traded were 17,133.

HDFC Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 10.55 points at 1097.15 compared with spot closing of 1086.60. The number of contracts traded were 25,625.

Reliance Industries March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 5.25 points at 891.25 compared with spot closing of 886.00. The number of contracts traded were 20,383.Among Nifty calls, 9100 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.26 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8900 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.54 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (4.31 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,500 SP (4.39 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8980.42--- Pivot Point 8914.88--- Support --- 8872.22.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.28 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Ranbaxy (1.28), HDFC (1.07), SUN TV (0.96), Siemens (0.95) and Grasim (0.95). 

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India  witnessed a contraction of 0.03 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Axis Bank witnessing an addition of 0.19 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; Larsen & Toubro witnessed a contraction of 0.04 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 0.21 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and ITC witnessed an addition of 0.37 million of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.