Nifty garners half a percent gains on Thursday; settles above 8650 level

The Indian benchmark index -- Nifty-- continued its northward journey for second straight session on Thursday and finished the session with a gain of over a half percent, recapturing its crucial 8,650 mark. After a positive start, market hold on to its gains and traded in tight band. In the last hour of trade, market find momentum and extended its gains to end near day’s high, with a gains of over 50 point, as sentiment got some boost with the Union Cabinet approving changes in the GST Constitutional Amendment Bill providing for full compensation to states for first five years of roll out of the new indirect tax regime, taking it a step closer to reality. Market participants got some comfort with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that a good monsoon can help add ‘a percentage point’ to India's GDP growth in the current fiscal, from 7.6 percent in 2015-16. Some support also came in with the US Federal Reserve has opted to keep interest rates at ultra-low level after the conclusion of a two-day monetary policy meeting.

On global front, shares in Japan dragged Asian markets lower on Thursday, as investors reined in their expectations for a stimulus package from the country’s government. European shares were trading choppy in early deals, though managed to keep their head above water.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were India Cements, Asian Paints and India bulls Real Estate. On the other hand, the top losers were Sintex Industries, Jindal Steel & Power and JSW Steel. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 8600-9000 calls and 7500-8700 puts.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility contraction by 1.81% and reached 15.14. The 50-share Nifty was up by 50.50 points or 0.59% to settle at 8,666.30.

Nifty August 2016 futures closed at 8701.90 on Thursday at a premium of 35.60 points over spot closing of 8,666.30, while Nifty September 2016 futures ended at 8747.95 at a premium of 81.65 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw addition of 4.11 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.85 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 25, 2016.                                

From the most active contracts, State Bank of India August 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.10 points at 230.30 compared with spot closing of 230.20. The number of contracts traded were 17,637.   

Punjab National Bank August 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 129.20 compared with spot closing of 128.70. The number of contracts traded were 16,495.   

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries of August 2016 futures traded at a premium of 5.55 points at 829.80 compared with spot closing of 824.25. The number of contracts traded were 20,521.       Reliance Industries August 2016 futures traded at a premium of 6.95 points at 1030.95 compared with spot closing of 1,024.00. The number of contracts traded were 17,113.   

Maruti Suzuki India August 2016 futures traded at a premium of 22.65 points at 4781.65 compared with spot closing of 4,759.00. The number of contracts traded were 18,543. 

Among Nifty calls, 8700 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.75 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8600 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.70 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8800 SP (5.89 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (6.77 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8685.58--- Pivot Point 8655.42--- Support --- 8636.13.             

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.86 for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were SRF (2.32), M&M (2.11), APOLLOTYRE (1.64), PTC (1.58) and BAJFINANCE (1.51).   

Among most active underlying Punjab National Bank witnessed an addition of 14.91 million of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed Maruti Suzuki India witnessing an addition of 0.39 million of Open Interest in the August month contract; State Bank of India witnessed a addition of 9.17 million of Open Interest in the August month contract, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 2.20 million of Open Interest in the August month contract and Asian Paints witnessed an addition of 1.11 million units of Open Interest in the August month's future contract.