Nifty snaps 3-day losing streak; ends above 7,400 mark

The fifty stock shares -- Nifty – ended higher on the Thursday, on the back of value buying in frontline blue chip counters. Sentiments got support with the statement of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that amid global uncertainty, it is important for India to emerge out of the crisis stronger as it is on a much higher and stabler footing than other nations. Besides, appreciation in Indian rupee against the US dollar too supported the market. Indian equity market made a gap-up opening and traded with traction in first half of the session, supported by higher oil prices and a weaker dollar. Thereafter, market pared most of their gains in late afternoon session after reports stated that the US government has made it mandatory for all active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to be manufactured locally. However, Nifty regained its momentum in dying hours and finally ended the session with gains of over 42 points. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in green, while European markets were trading on optimistic note.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Vedanta, Motherson Sumi Systems and Cairn India. On the other hand, the top losers were Wockhardt, Reliance Infrastructure and Arvind. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7400-8000 calls and 7000-7500 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7500 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7400 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7900 Call, while 7600 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.04% and reached 18.20. The 50-share Nifty was up by 42.20 points or 0.57% to settle at 7,404.00.   

Nifty February 2016 futures closed 7422.65 on Thursday at a premium of 18.65 points over spot closing of 7,404.00, while Nifty March 2016 futures ended at 7437.70 at a premium of 33.70 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw contraction of 0.55 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.90 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 25, 2016.                

From the most active contracts, SBI February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.70 points at 163.30 compared with spot closing of 164.00. The number of contracts traded were 27,907.             

ICICI Bank February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.35 points at 204.75 compared with spot closing of 204.40. The number of contracts traded were 22,429.                      

Axis Bank February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.25 points at 384.55 compared with spot closing of 385.80. The number of contracts traded were 17,847.                          

Tata Steel February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.60 points at 226.10 compared with spot closing of 227.70. The number of contracts traded were 18,434.                                        

Reliance Industries February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 977.70 compared with spot closing of 977.65. The number of contracts traded were 16,850.  

Among Nifty calls, 7500 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.54 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7400 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.39 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7600 SP (5.42 mn) and that for Puts was at 7200 SP (4.24 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7452.05 --- Pivot Point 7409.00 --- Support --- 7360.95.        

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.93 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godrej Consumer Products (1.67), PTC India (1.51), TCS (1.34), Hero Motocorp (1.24) and Indian Overseas Bank (1.23).

Among most active underlying, Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 0.07 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Yes Bank witnessing a contraction of 0.43 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1.93 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Larsen & Toubro witnessed a contraction of 0.44 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.11 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.