Nifty ends choppy session with modest gains

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended a choppy session with marginal gains on Monday as positive global cues buoyed investors' sentiments. Some support also came with report that after four months of intense selling, overseas investors turned net buyers in February and have so far pumped in over Rs 5,800 crore in the capital market. The latest inflow followed a net pullout of Rs 80,310 crore from equity and debt together in the past four months (October-January). However, a weak rupee, disappointing IIP (Index of Industrial Production) data and weak earnings updates from the companies like Coal India, Bank of Baroda and Idea Cellular weighted on market sentiments. Besides, caution prevailed ahead of the release of key macro-economic inflation data points -- the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) -- to be released on February 13 and 14, respectively. Sentiments also remained subdued with private report that India’s economic growth is likely to remain subdued in the first quarter of 2017 as the activity level remains below its recent peak. As per the report, from 7.3 per cent GDP growth in July-September 2016, the October-December 2016 quarter GDP growth is likely to slow to 6 per cent and further to 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 (January-March).

Traders were seen piling up positions in IT, Media and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU, Realty and Pharma stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Exide Industries, Cairn India and Eicher Motors. On the other hand, the top losers were Bank of Baroda, SRF and Indo Count 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 increased by 3.91% and reached 13.69. The 50-share Nifty was up by 11.50 points or 0.13% to settle at 8,805.05.

Nifty February 2017 futures closed at 8815.35 on Monday at a premium of 10.30 points over spot closing of 8805.05, while Nifty March 2017 futures ended at 8846.30, at a premium of 41.25 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw an addition of 0.63 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.31 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 23, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Bank of Baroda February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 169.15 compared with spot closing of 168.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,738.

State Bank of India February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.65 points at 272.15 compared with spot closing of 271.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,548.

Infosys February 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.85 points at 983.15 compared with spot closing of 984.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,112.

Hindalco Industries February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 185.55 compared with spot closing of 184.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,436.

Yes Bank February 2017 futures traded at a discount of 3.75 points at 1453.25 compared with spot closing of 1,457.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,551.

Among Nifty calls, 8800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.16 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.46 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (7.07 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (5.76 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8836.57--- Pivot Point 8795.38--- Support --- 8763.87.

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 Oracle Financial Services Software (2.00), Sun TV Network (1.79), Tata Consultancy Services (1.36), Bharti Airtel (1.26) and IDEA (1.23).

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1.03 million units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, followed by Bank of Baroda witnessing an addition of 8.71  million units  of Open Interest in the February month contract, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 0.59 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, Hindalco Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.14 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract and Vedanta witnessed a contraction of 0.43 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract.