Nifty ends higher amid firm global cues

Domestic equity index -- Nifty -- ended higher on the Monday, on account of buying by fund and retail investors in the frontline blue chip counters. Sentiment was upbeat after the RBI governor Raghuram Rajan commented that the headline fiscal deficit target for the next financial year (at 3.5%) is a comfort for the central bank and has already hiked hopes of a rate cut. Some support also came in with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stating that the government hopes to pass the landmark Constitution Amendment Bill for national Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as the bankruptcy and insolvency bill in the second half of the Budget session beginning April 20. On the global front, Asian markets ended in green, as traders eyed a strong rally in Shanghai driven by hopes of additional stimulus from stock market regulators and the central government. European shares rose on Monday, extending gains made in the previous session and with banking stocks among the top performers, as funding plans from the European Central Bank buoyed the sector.

Back home, buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmark has made a gap up opening and recaptured its psychological 7,550 in early deals. Thereafter, market trimmed its initial gains but continued to trade in green throughout the session, as investors booked some of their initial profit at higher level.  Finally, Nifty ended with the gain of over 28 points.  On the economic front, IIP for the month of January came in at -1.5 as compared to -1.2 percent December IIP data. Meanwhile, India's annual wholesale inflation eased marginally to (-) 0.91% for February, from (-) 0.90% in the previous month, but was higher than the (-) 2.17% level in the like month of the previous year.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Indo Count Industries, Sun TV Network and Crompton Greaves. On the other hand, the top losers were Jindal Steel & Power, Jaiprakash Associates and Jain Irrigation Systems. 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 6600 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7500 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7400 Call, while 7600 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 0.03% and reached 17.10. The 50-share Nifty was up by 28.55 points or 0.38% to settle at 7,538.75.   

Among Nifty calls, 7600 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.71 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.53 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7500 SP (6.88 mn) and that for Puts was at 7200 SP (6.95 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7576.62 --- Pivot Point 7545.83 --- Support --- 7507.97.            

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.11 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Cummins India (4.00), and Mcleod Russel India (2.74), Indian Overseas Bank (2.73), Divis Laboratories (2.07) and Eicher Mootors (1.59).  

Among most active underlying, Crompton Greaves witnessed an addition of 6.47 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Tata Motors  witnessing an addition of 1.54 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 0.12 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 1.93 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.21 million units of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.