Nifty snaps four days losing streak; ends near 8,500 mark

After witnessing drubbing in the four previous sessions, Indian benchmark index Nifty heaved a sigh of relief, settling with gain of over half a percent on Monday on fresh buying by funds and retail investors amid positive developments on US election front as the FBI said Hillary Clinton would not face charges over her use of a private e-mail server. Sentiments got some support on the report that foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country grew by over 30 percent to $ 21.62 billion during the first half of 2016-17. During April-September of 2015-16, India received FDI worth $ 16.63 billion. Further, investor got some confidence with report that National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged India's GDP growth at 7.6 percent for the current fiscal on back of pick-up in rural demand and positive signals on the manufacturing front. However, traders booked some of their profit in last leg of trade on report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to maintain a status quo in the upcoming December meet. According to the report, the accommodative policy stance of the central bank would be largely driven by weak global growth and the fact that inflation is expected to be on track to its March-2017 target of 5 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets ended higher on the first day of a week as investors turned optimistic after the FBI said it stood by its earlier recommendation that no criminal charges were warranted against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The news lifted a cloud over Clinton's presidential campaign two days before the U.S. election. Also, European markets made firm opening, with France’s CAC 40 index and Germany’s Dax 30 index both were trading higher with a gain of one percent. Back home, after getting a gap up start, local index Nifty showed some strength in morning trades however, it failed to breach the narrow 50-point range for most part of the day, ending the session around its crucial 8,500 mark with a gain of over seven tens of a percent.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Crompton Greaves, Lupin and Punjab National Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Communications. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 8600-9000 calls and 8200-8400 puts. In today's session, some traders exited from 8400 and 8500 Call on the back of profit booking. On the other hand, 8500 and 8300 Put strikes saw addition of 3.21 and 2.31 lakh shares, respectively.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility contracted by 2.02% and reached 16.50. The 50-share Nifty was up by 63.30 points or 0.75% to settle at 8,497.05.

Nifty November 2016 futures closed at 8520.00 on Monday at a premium of 22.95 points over spot closing of 8,497.05, while Nifty December 2016 futures ended at 8567.00 at a premium of 69.95 points over spot closing. Nifty November futures saw contraction of 1.16 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 16.08 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on November 24, 2016.

From the most active contracts, ICICI Bank November 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.15 points at 279.40 compared with spot closing of 278.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,577.

Punjab National Bank November 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.25 points at 140.55 compared with spot closing of 140.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 11,981.

State Bank of India November 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.45 points at 253.60 compared with spot closing of 252.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,692.

Lupin November 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 1520.45 compared with spot closing of 1,519.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,800.   

Tata Motors November 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.20 points at 508.00 compared with spot closing of 505.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 10,351.   

Among Nifty calls, 8600 SP from the November month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.02 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8500 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.32 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (6.07 mn) and that for Puts was at 8200 SP (4.80 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8528.12--- Pivot Point 8504.78--- Support --- 8473.72.             

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.90 for November month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were INDUSINDBK (1.06), GODREJCP (1.00), CENTURYTEX (0.98), CUMMINSIND (0.96) and SIEMENS (0.92).   

Among most active underlying Century Textiles & Industries witnessed an addition of 1.01 million of Open Interest in the November month futures contract, followed Cummins India witnessing a contraction of 0.96 million of Open Interest in the November month contract, Siemens witnessed a addition of 0.91 million of Open Interest in the November month contract, IndusInd Bank witnessed an addition of 0.90 million of Open Interest in the November month contract and United Breweries witnessed a contraction of 0.88 million units of Open Interest in the November month's future contract.