Nifty ends flat on concerns over rising tensions in Middle East

The fifty stock index -- Nifty -- ended the choppy day of trade with a marginal cut on Friday as investors opted to remain on sidelines in absence for fresh triggers. Though, the index opened on a positive note tracking strong global cues but, it erased all the early gains and turned red on concerns about rising tensions in the Middle East. On the global front, Asian stock indices ended mostly lower as concerns about the US economy and uncertainty ahead of expected comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen inhibited some caution in the market. However, European stock markets opened mostly higher on Friday, as a renewed fall in the euro helped boost exporters' shares.

Back home, Indian equity benchmark made a positive start buoyed by a firming trend on other Asian markets as upbeat US economic data helped revive some risk appetite lost following air strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen. Some support also came after rating agency Moody's termed high bids received in spectrum auction as 'credit positive' for India, citing that the proceeds from the sale of airwaves will help the government meet its fiscal deficit target.  However, in the afternoon session, market pared its early gains and slipped into red as the rebound in crude prices triggered expectations of a decline in the rupee and raised worries about a delay in the next round of interest rate cuts. Sentiments also weighed down on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 521.23 crore on March 26, 2015. Traders were seen piling positions in Capital Goods, Banking and information technology (IT) stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Infrastructure and bank sector stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session on flat note with a negative bias.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Hexaware Technologies, Aurobindo Pharma and Century Textiles & Industries. On the other hand, the top losers were Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and India Cements. In the index options segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9000-8900 calls and 8500-8400 puts indicating the expected trading range. In today's session, the 8400, 8500 and 8600 Call strikes saw addition of 4.23, 7.16 and 4.28 lakh shares, respectively. On the other hand, 8400, 8300 and 8200 Put strikes saw addition of 3.25, 0.71 and 1.16 lakh shares, respectively. Meanwhile, India VIX - the gauge of underlying volatility in the market - has declined in today's session, which indicates that traders have slowdown buying options contracts. 

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 4.37% and reached 14.50. The 50-share CNX Nifty was down by 0.75 points or 0.01% to settle at 8,341.40. Nifty April 2015 futures closed at 8434.90 on Friday at a premium of 93.50 points over spot closing of 8341.40, while Nifty May 2015 futures ended at 8488.80 at a premium of 147.40 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw an contraction of 0.55 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.28 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 30, 2015.

From the most active contracts, State Bank of India April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 266.60 compared with spot closing of 264.20. The number of contracts traded were 34,379.

ICICI Bank April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 3.60 points at 318.40 compared with spot closing of 314.80. The number of contracts traded were 22,483.

HDFC Bank April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 14.20 points at 1030.15 compared with spot closing of 1015.95. The number of contracts traded were 27,050.

Reliance Industries April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 12.50 points at 822.50 compared with spot closing of 810.00. The number of contracts traded were 34,331.

Axis Bank April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 6.50 points at 553.45 compared with spot closing of 546.95. The number of contracts traded were 43,827.

Among Nifty calls, 8600 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.42 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8300 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.07 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (2.75 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,200 SP (2.49 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8413.35--- Pivot Point 8341.25--- Support --- 8269.30.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.92 for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Petronet LNG (2.56), CESC (1.62), India Cements (1.62), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (1.21) and ACC (1.18). 

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 3.17 million of Open Interest in the April month futures contract, followed by Axis Bank witnessing an addition of 2 million of Open Interest in the April month contract; Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.79 million of Open Interest in the April month contract, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.01 million of Open Interest in the April month contract and Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 0.37 million of Open Interest in the April month's future contract.