Nifty snaps seven days losing streak

The local benchmark Nifty snapped seven days losing streak and managed to end the session slightly in green despite absence of domestic as well as global cues ahead of Christmas holiday. Traders took some encouragement with Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D. V. Sadananda Gowda’s statement that demonetisation could bring down the growth rate by just 0.2 percent and not more than that. He added that India’s GDP stood at 7.6 percent and it may go down to 7.4 percent. Some support also came after NITI Aayog vice-chairman Aravind Panagariya has termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation scheme as a “frontal attack” on black money and said that more such actions are in store to curb corruption.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Auto, Financial Services and Media sector stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Pharma and IT sector stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Bajaj Finance, Cipla and Bosch. On the other hand, the top losers were Divi's Laboratories, Bharat Financial Inclusion and Cadila Healthcare. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8000-8500 calls and 7500-8000 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.73% and reached 15.12. The 50-share Nifty was up by 6.65 points or 0.08% to settle at 7985.75.

Nifty December 2016 futures closed at 7995.00 on Friday at a premium of 9.25 points over spot closing of 7985.75, while Nifty January 2017 futures ended at 8027.95 at a premium of 42.2 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.70 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 13.60 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 29, 2016.

From the most active contracts, Divi's Laboratories December 2016 futures traded at a discount of 14.45 points at 863.25 compared with spot closing of 877.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,031.

Bharat Financial Inclusion December 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.05 points at 520.85 compared with spot closing of 521.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,134.

Sun Pharmaceuticals December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.20 points at 624.85 compared with spot closing of 622.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,562.

State Bank of India December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 249.75 compared with spot closing of 249. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,762.

HDFC Bank December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 points at 1187.00 compared with spot closing of 1186.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,581.

Among Nifty calls, 8000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.10 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.35 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8300 SP (5.54 mn) and that for Puts was at 8000 SP (5.90 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8024.88--- Pivot Point 7983.47--- Support --- 7944.33.           

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.94 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godrej Consumer Products (17.75), DCB Bank (3.21), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (2.40), Marico (1.38) and Indo Count Industries (1.20).  

Among most active underlying, Vedanta witnessed a contraction of 3.50 million of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by Bharat Financial Inclusion witnessing a contraction of 0.15 million of Open Interest in the December month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.12 million of Open Interest in the December month contract, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 0.49 million of Open Interest in the December month contract and Divi's Laboratories witnessed an addition of 0.37  million units of Open Interest in the November month's future contract.