Nifty ends higher for second straight day

The fifty stock index - Nifty - ended higher over one percent on Friday on the back of strong buying by fund and retail investors. Sentiment got boost with foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country more than doubling to about $ 4.5 billion in December 2015. In December 2014, India had received $2.16 billion. Further, some support also came in after the report of India Ratings and Research that the Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.6 percent in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal year - the fastest pace of expansion in five quarters. Meanwhile, chief economic advisor -- Arvind Subramanian has said that the low global commodity prices are a plus for India infra investment. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in higher, in anticipation of the US jobs data that can provide some clues to the US Federal’s next monetary policy review. European equities were trading in green. Back home, after getting a flat but positive start, Nifty extended its gain and continued to trade with traction through the session and ended with gain of over 80 points.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Jindal Steel & Power, Lupin and Jet Airways (India). On the other hand, the top losers were Crompton Greaves, Bosch and GAIL (India). 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 7100 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7500 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7300 Call, while 7800 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.51% and reached 18.11. The 50-share Nifty was up by 85.10 points or 1.15% to settle at 7,489.10.   

Nifty February 2016 futures closed 7519.20 on Friday at a premium of 30.10 points over spot closing of 7,489.10, while Nifty March 2016 futures ended at 7537.85 at a premium of 48.75 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw contraction of 0.42 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.48 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 premium of 0.20 points at 169.00 compared with spot closing of 168.80. The number of contracts traded were 24,402.         

Vedanta February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.20 points at 74.10 compared with spot closing of 73.90. The number of contracts traded were 14,755.                              

ICICI Bank February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.60 points at 210.20 compared with spot closing of 210.80. The number of contracts traded were 27,380.                      

Axis Bank February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 2.15 points at 400.70 compared with spot closing of 402.85. The number of contracts traded were 17,969.                          

Tata Steel February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.30 points at 234.45 compared with spot closing of 235.75. The number of contracts traded were 37,589.  

Among Nifty calls, 7600 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.18 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7400 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.87 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7600 SP (5.60 mn) and that for Puts was at 7400 SP (5.22 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7525.95 --- Pivot Point 7466.30 --- Support --- 7429.45.        

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.99 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were PTC India (1.68), Godrej Consumer Products (1.67), Eicher Motors (1.47), Tata Steel (1.43) and TCS (1.36).

Among most active underlying, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 1.38 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Lupin witnessing an addition of 0.46 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.68 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an addition of 0.20 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 2.68 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.