Nifty ends higher for fourth consecutive session

The fifty stock index -- Nifty -- ended higher on Monday, on the back of buying by funds and retails investors in select blue chip counters amid firm global cues. Sentiment remained up beat with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) raised India’s growth forecast to 7.4% compared to 7.3% expansion projected in November 2015. Some support also come in with the Finance Ministry has said that the quality of government expenditure has improved significantly in the current fiscal and is resulting in high growth. The Plan Expenditure during April-December showed significant improvement. According to CGA data, it was 74.4 per cent of Budget Estimate at the end of December, as compared to 61.3 per cent a year ago.  However, gain remained capped as investors remained cautious awaiting the Railway Budget and Economic Survey report later during the week. On the global front, Asian markets ended higher led by China on the hopes that Beijing has stepped up its economic stimulus efforts. European equities are trading firm in spite of the uncertainty over ‘Brexit’- exit of the UK from European Union.  Back home, after getting a flat to negative opening, market entered into positive territory and continued to trade in green throughout the session and finally ended with a gain of over 20 points.    

The top gainers from the F&O segment were BEML, Crompton Greaves and Just Dial. On the other hand, the top losers were Indiabulls Housing Finance, Motherson Sumi Systems and Tech Mahindra. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7000-7800 calls and 6700-7400 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7100 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7200 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 2100 Call, while 7400 call witnessed considerable OI addition. 

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 0.50% and reached 21.02. The 50-share Nifty was up by 23.80 points or 0.33% to settle at 7,234.55.   

Nifty February 2016 futures closed 7240.70 on Monday at a premium of 6.15 points over spot closing of 7,234.55, while Nifty March 2016 futures ended at 7258.25 at a premium of 23.70 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw contraction of 1.94 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.60 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 25, 2016.                    

From the most active contracts, ICICI Bank February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.20 points at 198.45 compared with spot closing of 198.65. The number of contracts traded were 19,776.            

SBI February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.10 points at 164.90 compared with spot closing of 165.00. The number of contracts traded were 28,393.                      

Axis Bank February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.70 points at 398.05 compared with spot closing of 396.35. The number of contracts traded were 24,801.                                               

Reliance Industries February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.85 points at 962.15 compared with spot closing of 963.00. The number of contracts traded were 23,511.                     

HDFC Bank February 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.30 points at 988.80 compared with spot closing of 986.50. The number of contracts traded were 17,076.     

Among Nifty calls, 7300 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.68 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.97 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7400 SP (7.05 mn) and that for Puts was at 7200 SP (6.03 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7257.73 --- Pivot Point 7229.22 --- Support --- 7206.03.            

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.82 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Hero MotoCorp (2.28), Godrej Consumer Products (2.00), Eicher Motors (1.55), Oil India (1.50) and JSW Steel (1.34). 

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 5.98 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 19.51 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.44 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 5.58 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and HDFC Bank witnessed a contraction of 4.41 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.