Nifty ekes out slender gains on late hour recovery

The local benchmark -- Nifty -- witnessed volatility during the trade on Thursday and managed to end the session slightly in green. After a positive opening, Indian market failed to hold their gain and slipped into red terrain to trade range-bound for most part of the trading session, as sentiment remained down-beat with reports that in September, rainfall fell 15 per cent below average, which could mean the season will end up in deficit. Beside, depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. Talks of a rupee devaluation have pushed the currency to a two-week low despite the finance ministry denying that it had any discussions on the currency’s devaluation and commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeting that she did not tell a reporter that the government was discussing a devaluation. However, market regains momentum, as sentiments got some support with report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed preparations for roll out of the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, possibly from April 1 next year, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team making a presentation on the milestones achieved and the road ahead. Adding the optimism among investors, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the country’s foodgrain output is expected to touch a record in the ongoing 2016-17 crop year. The government has set a target to achieve a record foodgrains production of 270.10 MT this year.

On global front, European markets edged higher in early trade, looking to break off from a week-long losing run, as investors awaited a batch of economic data for clues on the strength of the world’s biggest economy and the trajectory of interest rates before next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, while Asian markets ended mostly lower, as investors grapple with the apparently diminishing ability of major central banks to stimulate growth.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were TV18 Broadcast, Sun TV Network and Dish TV India. On the other hand, the top losers were BEML, PC Jeweller and Ashok Leyland. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 8700-9000 calls and 8500-8800 puts.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility contraction by 0.58% and reached 14.67. The 50-share Nifty was up by 15.95 points or 0.18% to settle at 8,742.55.

Nifty September 2016 futures closed at 8773.50 on Thursday at a premium of 30.95 points over spot closing of 8,742.55, while Nifty October 2016 futures ended at 8812.50 at a premium of 69.95 points over spot closing. Nifty September futures saw contraction of 0.57 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 32.04 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on September 29, 2016.

From the most active contracts, Ashok Leyland September 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.25 points at 81.70 compared with spot closing of 81.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 8,165.

ICICI Bank September 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 272.00 compared with spot closing of 270.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 9,992.

Tata Motors September 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.05 points at 558.45 compared with spot closing of 558.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 9,849.

Sun Pharmaceuticals September 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.10 points at 787.90 compared with spot closing of 788.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 6,548.   

Reliance Industries September 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.05 points at 1066.85 compared with spot closing of 1,064.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,295.   

Among Nifty calls, 8800 SP from the September month expiry was the most active call with a addition of 0.03 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8700 SP from the September month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.52 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (5.80 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (5.96 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8761.55--- Pivot Point 8732.95--- Support --- 8713.95.             

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.15 for September month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were MRF (2.67), GODREJCP (1.79), MARUTI (1.31), CASTROLIND  (1.15) and BHARTIARTL (1.07).   

Among most active underlying Yes Bank witnessed an contraction of 0.14 million of Open Interest in the September month futures contract, followed Reliance Industries witnessing an contraction of 0.59 million of Open Interest in the September month contract, Reliance Capital witnessed a addition  of 0.12 million of Open Interest in the September month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an contraction  of 0.00 million of Open Interest in the September month contract and Axis Bank witnessed an addition  of 1.22 million units of Open Interest in the September month's future contract.