Bulls hit back after a day halt; Nifty surpasses 5,550 mark

Bulls retaliated back after a day halt with Nifty hitting seven month high as foreign institutional investors continued with their buying spree as lower US jobless data boosted sentiments across the globe. Global markets remained in the green on hopes of Greece getting a bailout package while, better-than-expected US macro-economic reports added to the market mood. Back home, Power and capital goods space were the top sectoral performers. BHEL, Larsen & Toubro and BGR Energy rallied after reports that NTPC planning to award Rs 22,000 crore equipment orders after winning legal battle in Supreme Court against Ansaldo Caldaie India.

Earlier, the domestic benchmark made a gap-up start tracking positive cues from global indices. Moreover, shipping stocks remained on investor’s radar in the initial trade as reports suggested that committee of secretaries would hold a meeting later in the day to discuss shipping subsidy. Afterwards, Nifty extended its gains and touched crucial 5,600 mark as sentiments were underpinned by power stocks, which extended their rally for the third day in a row after the Prime Minister approved suggestions made by the Secretary level Committee for solving the issue of coal deficit faced by power sector. After that, market traded in the narrow range till mid noon trade near its crucial 5,600 level as it was very difficult for bulls to clear 5,600 mark as traders engaged at booking some profits off the table at that level. Thus, in the final hour of trade, market trimmed some of its initial gains. Auto stocks too witnessed the selling pressure in final hour, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors were the key draggers. Hero MotoCorp was also down over 2 percent in trades. But, market was able to end the trade with a euphoric note with a gain of over 40 points recapturing its crucial 5,550 mark.

On the global front, the US markets jumped overnight while, Asian shares rebounded on Friday, as sentiment turned positive on firmer signs that euro zone officials would soon approve a long-awaited bailout for Greece to reduce the risk of a disorderly default, while solid US economic data also aided the sentiments. Moreover, all the European counterparts were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time. Back home, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE were settled in the green, CNX PSU Bank remained the major gainer, up 1.97% followed by Bank Nifty up 1.40% and CNX PSE up by 1.27% while CNX Media and CNX Auto declined 1.46% and 0.43% respectively in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, surged 3.64% and reached 24.18.

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 3.64% at 24.18 as compared to its previous close of at 23.33 on Thursday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty accumulated 42.35 points or 0.77% to settle at 5,564.30.

Nifty February 2012 futures closed at 5,589.60 at a premium of 25.30 points over spot closing of 5,564.30, while Nifty March 2012 futures were at 5,625.10 at a premium of 60.80 points over spot closing. The near month February 2012 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, February 23, 2012. Nifty February futures saw contraction of 1.70 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.21 mn units.

From the most active contract, Tata Motors February 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.10 points at 274.80 as compared with spot closing of 273.70. The number of contracts traded was 18,857.

IDFC February 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.80 point at 148.95 compared with spot closing of 148.15. The number of contracts traded was 17,771.

BHEL February 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.90 point at 304.90 compared with spot closing of 303.00. The number of contracts traded was 36,045.

Tata Steel February 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.85 point at 479.05 compared with spot closing of 478.20. The number of contracts traded was 19,949.

Reliance Industries February 2012 futures were at a premium of 7.15 point at 823.10 compared with spot closing of 815.95. The number of contracts traded was 29,915.Among Nifty calls, 5600 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.42 million open interest. 

Among Nifty puts, 5500 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.56 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 5600 SP (5.78 mn) and that for Puts was at 5500 SP (6.27 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5598.93-- Pivot Point 5572.06-- Support 5537.43

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 2.21 for February -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Patel Engineering 13.67, Canara Bank 10.80, Ruchi Soya  10.00, OnMobile 6.80 and Godrej Industries 6.40.

Among most active underlying, Tata Motors witnessed a contraction of 0.56 million of Open Interest in the February month futures contract followed by Reliance Communication witnessed a contraction of 0.41 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile IDFC witnessed a contraction of 0.61 million in the February month futures. Further, DLF witnessed a contraction of 0.26 million in Open Interest in the February month contract. Finally, BHEL witnessed a contraction of 0.49 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.