Nifty ends above 7,500 mark on Wednesday

The fifty stock index - Nifty - ended higher on Wednesday, on account of buying by fund and retail investors in the frontline bluechip counters. Sentiment got boost with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the India's economic growth rate is expected to increase to 7.6 per cent in 2015-16. He also said that the government has taken various initiatives to boost the growth of the economy, and industrial growth in particular. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower, as weaker-than-expected trade figures from the world’s second-biggest economy revived concerns about global growth. However, European stocks were trading higher on Wednesday, as energy shares were lifted by gains in crude oil futures, with investors keeping in mind a European Central Bank policy decision is coming soon.

Back home, Indian equity benchmark has made a gap-down and continued to trade in under pressure in till noon dales on the back of weak global cues as a fresh slump in crude prices dragged the US markets in overnight trade while a selloff in Chinese equities spooked stock markets globally amid renewed concerns over the outlook for the Chinese economy. However, in the second half market entered into positive territory and extended its gains, as firm European cues. Finally, Nifty ended its intra-day high level with gain of over 45 points.         

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Crompton Greaves, Reliance Infrastructure and Ashok Leyland. On the other hand, the top losers were MindTree, PC Jeweller and Jubilant Foodworks. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7200-8000 calls and 6500-7500 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7000 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7500 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7400 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 5.20% and reached 17.50. The 50-share Nifty was up by 46.50 points or 0.62% to settle at 7,531.80.   

Nifty March 2016 futures closed 7535.05 on Wednesday at a premium of 3.25 points over spot closing of 7,531.80, while Nifty April 2016 futures ended at 7567.25 at a premium of 35.45 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw contraction of 0.41 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.58 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 31, 2016.                        

From the most active contracts, SBI March 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.10 points at 184.35 compared with spot closing of 183.45. The number of contracts traded were 27,306.                      

ICICI Bank March 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.60 points at 216.50 compared with spot closing of 217.10. The number of contracts traded were 19,337.             

Axis Bank March 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.75 points at 419.25 compared with spot closing of 416.50. The number of contracts traded were 16,434.                 

Tata Steel March 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.80 points at 295.65 compared with spot closing of 296.45. The number of contracts traded were 19,606.

Crompton Greaves March 2016 futures traded at a discount of 2.85 points at 149.05 compared with spot closing of 151.90. The number of contracts traded were 12,345.     

Among Nifty calls, 7500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.47 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7400 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.42 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7500 SP (6.38 mn) and that for Puts was at 7200 SP (6.26 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7572.43 --- Pivot Point 7498.37 --- Support --- 7457.73.            

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.16 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Indian Overseas Bank (3.42), Cummins India (3.00), Granules India (2.30), Divis Laboratories (1.80) and Mcleod Russel India (1.44).  

Among most active underlying, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 0.93 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Infrastructure witnessing a contraction of 0.21 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 3.19 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, Yes Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.10 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.34 million units of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.