Nifty ends with marginal gain on Friday

The fifty stock index - Nifty - ended with marginal gain on Friday as investors remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data which will be announced later in the day. After getting a good start, Nifty traded between positive and negative territory throughout the session and finally ended near neural line with slightly gain. Sentiment got up beat after the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that no need for exaggerated panic over global developments, investors should keep in mind inherent strength of Indian economy. He also said that the government is considering more steps to empower banks to recover bad loans. Investors also got some relief from the Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu’s statement that he is confident that bills pertaining to formation of a realty regulator and the much-awaited indirect taxation reform GST will be passed in the upcoming Budget session. 

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday as concerns about the health of European banks further threatened a global economy already under strain from falling oil prices and slowdowns in China and other emerging markets, while European markets opened higher following a rebound in the price of oil. U.S. stock futures pointed higher.    

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Idea Cellular, Bharti Infratel and Tata Motors. On the other hand, the top losers were Bharat Heavy Electricals, Wockhardt and Just Dial. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7000-8000 calls and 6500-7400 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7000 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 6900 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7700 Call, while 7000 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 4.98% and reached 24.67. The 50-share Nifty was up by 4.60 points or 0.07% to settle at 6,980.95.   

Nifty February 2016 futures closed 6990.00 on Friday at a premium of 9.05 points over spot closing of 6,980.95, while Nifty March 2016 futures ended at 7008.90 at a premium of 27.95 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw addition of 1.07 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.82 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 0.60 points at 155.05 compared with spot closing of 154.45. The number of contracts traded were 37,612.          

ICICI Bank February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.85 points at 193.80 compared with spot closing of 191.95. The number of contracts traded were 30,407.                        

Axis Bank February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 391.30 compared with spot closing of 390.35. The number of contracts traded were 31,605.                                              

Tata Motors February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 298.45 compared with spot closing of 296.05. The number of contracts traded were 23,931.                  

Reliance Industries February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 5.60 points at 910.45 compared with spot closing of 904.85. The number of contracts traded were 22,398.     

Among Nifty calls, 7200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.68 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 6900 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.69 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7500 SP (5.83 mn) and that for Puts was at 7000 SP (4.54 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7054.17 --- Pivot Point 6961.58 --- Support --- 6888.37.         

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.77 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godrej Consumer Products (2.00), Oil India (1.57), Hero MotoCorp (1.32) Indian Overseas Bank (1.16) and United Breweries (1.10). 

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 1.34 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 0.59 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 2.17 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Tata Motors witnessed a contraction of 2.93 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and Larsen & Toubro witnessed a contraction of 0.10 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.