Bulls drive market high with modest gains; Nifty above 5,300 level

The domestic index - S&P CNX Nifty finished its volatile trade in green with bulls holding control throughout the major part of day’s trade making Nifty conclude the remarkable day of trade above its crucial 5,300 level supported by major sectoral indices ending in the green barring MNC, Metal, Energy, Pharma and Commodities on the NSE with remaining leading the up-move. On the global front, European stock markets were trading on a mix note. Last week, the Euro-zone finance ministers agreed to temporarily boost the lending capacity of the region’s rescue funds to 700 billion Euros from 500 billion Euros in an effort to convince markets that they can contain the region’s long-running sovereign debt crisis. Also, Asian shares kicked of the second quarter with modest gains on Monday; surprisingly firm Chinese manufacturing data dispelled fears of a hard landing in the world's second biggest economy.

Earlier, the market made a flat opening on the first session of the new financial year. Market men brushing aside the tepid-macro-economic data scooped up blue-chip stocks. Investors shrugged the weak manufacturing PMI numbers which reported that the expansion of India's factory sector slowed for a third month in March as growth in new orders eased and costs for raw materials kept rising. The HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, eased to 54.7 in March from 56.6 in February. The market did drift below neutral line but buying emerged across the board, which pulled the benchmarks in green terrain. The key take away of the session was the spurt of power stocks like Adani Power, Tata Power Company, CESC, which were spellbound post Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) approved a steep 37% hike in power tariff for one year, effective from April 1. The rate sensitive counters like Bankex and Realty too surged in the session as investors at large shifted their focus towards the RBI's quarterly monetary policy review meet scheduled in April, hoping that the central bank would employ some liquidity easing measures to stimulate economic growth.

Meanwhile, majority of the sectoral indices on the NSE were settled in the green, CNX Media remained the major gainer, up 2.23% followed by CNX Realty up 1.69%, CNX Infra up by 1.54%, CNX Finance up 1.15% and CNX PSU Bank up 0.94% while CNX MNC down 0.45%, CNX Metal down 0.41%, CNX Energy down 0.20%, CNX Pharma down 0.17% and CNX Commodities down 0.03% in the trade.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 6.70% at 20.88 as compared to its previous close of at 22.38 on Friday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty gain 22.35 points or 0.42% to settle at 5,317.90.

Nifty April 2012 futures closed at 5,350.65 at a premium of 32.75 points over spot closing of 5,317.90, while Nifty May 2012 futures were at 5,383.10 at a premium of 65.20 points over spot closing. The near month April 2012 derivatives contract will expire on Thursday i.e. April 26, 2012. Nifty April futures saw contraction of 1.43 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.00 mn units.

From the most active contract, JP Associates April 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.10 point at 85.60 compared with spot closing of 85.50. The number of contracts traded was 8,547.

Tata Motors April 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.80 point at 278.50 compared with spot closing of 276.70. The number of contracts traded was 6,691.

HDIL April 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.60 points at 86.90 compared with spot closing of 86.30. The number of contracts traded was 9,079.

DLF April 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.20 point at 208.90 compared with spot closing of 207.70. The number of contracts traded was 8,940.

Tata Steel April 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.25 point at 472.15 compared with spot closing of 470.90. The number of contracts traded was 11,281.

Among Nifty calls, 5600 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.66 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5000 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with contraction of 0.13 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 5600 SP (4.03mn) and that for Puts was at 5000 SP (5.25mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5340.03-- Pivot Point 5309.41 -- Support 5287.28.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.26 for April -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Hindustan Zinc 5.00, ABG Ship 4.00, Grasim 1.83, Coal India 1.24 and ITC 1.12

Among most active underlying, Suzlon witnessed an addition of 1.19 million of Open Interest in the April month futures contract followed by IFCI which witnessed an addition of 0.63 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, LITL witnessed contraction of 2.05 million in the April month futures. Also, R COM witnessed an addition of 0.69 million in Open Interest in the April month contract. Finally JP Associates Infra witnessed an addition of 3.91 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.