Nifty snaps four day losing streak; end above 7,600 mark

The fifty stock index -- Nifty -- snapped four day of losing streak and ended in positive terrain on Friday on account of value-buying in blue-chip stocks and recovery in the rupee amid firm Asian cues after the China Securities Regulator removed its four-day-old circuit-breaker system that was responsible for triggering a sell-off in Chinese shares this week. Further, sentiment also remained upbeat with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world indicating that the economy is firmly on the path of economic revival. Moreover, some support came with the report that the World Bank that the India will continue to be the bright spot of the global economy and is projected to grow at a robust 7.8 percent in fiscal 2016-17, more than a percentage point higher than China’s. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, after getting a positive opening, domestic equity market has pared some of its early gain and continued to trade in range bound till early noon session, thereafter market extended its gains but some profit booking was witnessed in last leg of trade and finally ended with a gain of over 33 points. 

The top gainers from the F&O segment were The India Cements, Housing Development and Infrastructure and Reliance Power. On the other hand, the top losers were Larsen & Toubro, Jubilant Foodworks and Cipla. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7600-8300 calls and 7200-7800 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7600 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7400 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 8100 Call, while 7950 call witnessed considerable OI addition. 

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 6.13% and reached 17.79. The 50-share Nifty was up by 33.05 points or 0.44% to settle at 7,601.35.   

Nifty January 2016 futures closed at 7605.20 on Friday at a premium of 3.85 points over spot closing of 7,601.35, while Nifty February 2016 futures ended at 7627.35 at a premium of 26 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw addition of 0.03 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.61 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 28, 2016.              

From the most active contracts, SBI January 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 209.65 compared with spot closing of 208.90. The number of contracts traded were 10,714.         

ICICI Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.50 points at 245.00 compared with spot closing of 245.50. The number of contracts traded were 11,301.                 

Axis Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.80 points at 415.30 compared with spot closing of 416.10. The number of contracts traded were 12,138.                       

Tata Steel January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.80 points at 253.75 compared with spot closing of 254.55. The number of contracts traded were 10,621.        

Tata Motors January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.10 points at 353.80 compared with spot closing of 353.90. The number of contracts traded were 10,699.                        

Among Nifty calls, 7700 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.55 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7500 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.05 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (6.75 mn) and that for Puts was at 7500 SP (5.89 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7629.95 --- Pivot Point 7605.50 --- Support --- 7576.90.  

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.89 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were United Breweries (14.00), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (2.31), HCL Technologies (1.48), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (1.09) and Indian Overseas Bank (1.06).  

Among most active underlying, Reliance Infrastructure witnessed an addition of 1.60 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 0.44 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; Maruti Suzuki India  witnessed an addition of 0.22 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Larsen & Toubro witnessed a contraction of 0.16 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and Tata Motors witnessed a contraction of 0.19 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.