Nifty ends below 7,550 level on Thursday

Domestic equity index -- Nifty -- ended lower on Thursday on account of selling by fund and retail investors in the blue chip stocks such as Tata Power, Adani ports, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC. Sentiments remained subdued since beginning of the trade as investors continued to book profit in the recent outperformers ahead of the earnings season due to begins next week. Investors also failed to draw any solace with industry body CII terming the GDP calculation methodology an 'imprecise science' and pegging the country's economic growth at around 8 per cent for the current fiscal, higher than the RBI's projection of 7.6 percent.  On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in green, as investors digested a split in the Federal Reserve's view on the likely path of rate hikes.  European markets were trading in red as investors eyed the renewed turbulence in oil prices, ahead of the European Central Bank's own set of minutes.

Back home, after getting a flat opening, Indian equity benchmark have extended its losses and continued to trade in red throughout the session. Finally, Nifty ended with a cut of around a per cent. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Shriram Transport Finance Company. On the other hand, the top losers were KPIT Technologies, Tata Power Company and Adani Power. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7500-8200 calls and 7000-7700 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7500 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7300 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 8100 Call, while 7600 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.36% and reached 16.93. The 50-share Nifty was up by 67.90 points or 0.89% to settle at 7,546.45.   

Nifty April 2016 futures closed 7565.05 on Thursday at a premium of 18.60 points over spot closing of 7,546.45, while Nifty May 2016 futures ended at 7599.30 at a premium of 52.85 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw contraction of 1.41 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.73 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 28, 2016.                         

From the most active contracts, SBI April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.70 points at 182.70 compared with spot closing of 182.00. The number of contracts traded were 22,313.        

ICICI Bank April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.25 points at 221.20 compared with spot closing of 220.95. The number of contracts traded were 14,399.                          

Axis Bank April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 427.55 compared with spot closing of 426.05. The number of contracts traded were 12,989.                                                      

Tata Motors April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.55 points at 375.75 compared with spot closing of 375.20. The number of contracts traded were 15,334.   

Bharat Heavy Electricals April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.05 points at 119.45 compared with spot closing of 118.40. The number of contracts traded were 34,954.         

Among Nifty calls, 7700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.64 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.49 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (8.38 mn) and that for Puts was at 7500 SP (5.15 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7606.18 --- Pivot Point 7571.02 --- Support --- 7511.28.            

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.76 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were CESC (1.93), Indian Overseas Bank (1.75), United Breweries (1.73), Castrol India (1.65) and Hero MotoCorp (1.12).  

Among most active underlying, Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 0.54 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 0.27 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; Bharat Heavy Electricals witnessed an addition of 1.32 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 0.09 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.63 million units of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.