Nifty closes marginally higher

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- traded on a volatile note throughout the day and closed modestly higher on Thursday, with IT stocks taking the lead after global IT major Cognizant has guided for a revenue growth of $3.51 billion to $3.55 billion for March quarter. Sentiments remained optimistic with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’ statement that India will be able to pull off a 7% plus growth rate next fiscal, as the Budget for 2017-18 has come up with several measures to provide a fillip to various sectors. Further, top US intelligence think-tank’s statement that India will be the world's fastest growing economy during the next five years also improved investors’ sentiments. However, banking stocks were among the worst performers, a day after the RBI shifted its policy stance from accommodative to neutral, sending bond prices sharply lower. Further, traders remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of December IIP data due on Friday.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, IT and Realty stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU, Metal and Pharma stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Just Dial, Bharat Forge and BEML. On the other hand, the top losers were Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Hindalco Industries. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8700-9200 calls and 8000-8800 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 0.86% and reached 13.23. The 50-share Nifty was up by 9.35 points or 0.11% to settle at 8778.40.

Nifty February 2017 futures closed at 8796.85 on Thursday at a premium of 18.45 points over spot closing of 8778.40, while Nifty March 2017 futures ended at 8828.40, at a premium of 50 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw a contraction of 7.2 thousand units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.76 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 23, 2017.

From the most active contracts Lupin February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 7.65 points at 1497.25 compared with spot closing of 1,489.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,221.

State Bank of India February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.25 points at 276.35 compared with spot closing of 276.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,948.

Infosys February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.15 points at 948.15 compared with spot closing of 946.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,592.

Union Bank of India February 2017 futures traded at a discount of 5.00 points at 147.95 compared with spot closing of 152.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,530.

ICICI Bank February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.40 points at 285.30 compared with spot closing of 284.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,966.

Among Nifty calls, 8800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.60 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8700 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.23 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (6.32 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (6.07 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8825.17--- Pivot Point 8774.63--- Support --- 8727.87.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.19 for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Sun TV Network (2.32), Oracle Financial Services Software (2.00), Bharti Airtel (1.26), Maruti Suzuki India (1.14) and IDEA (1.09).

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.93 million units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, followed by Tata Steel witnessing an addition of 0.06 million units  of Open Interest in the February month contract, Punjab National Bank witnessed an addition of 2.63 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.49 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract and Lupin witnessed an addition of 0.71 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract.