Nifty ends above 7,650 mark

Domestic equity index -- Nifty -- ended higher on Monday on account of buying by fund and retail investors. Traders got support with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’ statement that a Parliamentary panel is expected to submit its report on the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code on April 29 and government would push for the passage of the bill in the second leg of the Budget session. After making a positive start, Indian equity benchmark has pared its gain and entered into negative territory and continued to trade choppy for the most part of session, as traders remained cautious with a WTO report stating that India's rank remained unchanged at 19th in 2015 in the list of top 30 merchandise exporters of the world, though India's ranking among top importers slipped by one notch to 13th in 2015. India's exports dipped by 17.2 percent to $ 267 billion last year while imports aggregated at $ 392 billion. However, hectic buying which was witnessed in the last leg of trade that lifted the market above its psychological 7,650 level and ended with gain of over 115 points.

On the global front, Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday with Japan’s Nikkei index closing lower as the dollar notched a fresh 17-month low against the yen. However, European shares were higher on Monday, reversing earlier losses helped by gains in Italian banks and mining stocks.

Back home, the top gainers from the F&O segment were Just Dial, Reliance Infrastructure and Idea Cellular. On the other hand, the top losers were United Breweries, United Spirits and TV18 Broadcast. 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 7300 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7600 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7700 Call, while 7500 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.56% and reached 16.01. The 50-share Nifty was up by 116.20 points or 1.54% to settle at 7,671.40.   

Nifty April 2016 futures closed at 7702.10 on Monday at a premium of 30.70 points over spot closing of 7,671.40, while Nifty May 2016 futures ended at 7735.30 at a premium of 63.90 points over spot closing.  Nifty April futures saw contraction of 0.31 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.37 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 0.65 points at 189.10 compared with spot closing of 188.45. The number of contracts traded were 20,228.        

ICICI Bank April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 225.85 compared with spot closing of 224.90. The number of contracts traded were 15,267.                          

Axis Bank April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.85 points at 431.95 compared with spot closing of 430.10. The number of contracts traded were 13,315.                                                      

Tata Steel April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.50 points at 332.70 compared with spot closing of 330.20. The number of contracts traded were 15,818.   

Tata Motors April 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.55 points at 387.55 compared with spot closing of 386.00. The number of contracts traded were 11,029.    

Among Nifty calls, 7700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.88 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.01 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (8.43 mn) and that for Puts was at 7500 SP (4.74 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7727.85 --- Pivot Point 7622.35 --- Support --- 7565.90.            

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.84 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were United Breweries (1.74), CESC (1.58), Castrol India (1.27), McLeod Russel India (1.20) and Bajaj Finance (1.15).  

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 1.14 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Tata Steel witnessing an addition of 0.35 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; Reliance Infrastructure  witnessed a contraction of 0.01 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.06 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 0.07 million units of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.