Indian equity benchmark-- Nifty-- ended the session in green on Thursday on the back of sustained buying in frontline blue chip counters. Positive macroeconomic data also supported the market sentiments. Exports rose for the fifth straight month in January, up 4.32 percent, to USD 22.11 billion on increase in shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods and iron ore even as trade deficit widened to USD 9.84 billion. Investors remained optimistic after Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who in her second day of economic testimony before Congress, offered no additional insight on the timing of the central bank's next rate hike.
On sectoral front, buying in IT stocks also aided sentiments after the country's largest software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said its board will meet on February 20 to consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company. Furthermore, shares of SBI and its associates soared after the Cabinet approved their merger, a step aimed at strengthening the sector through consolidation of public banks. Traders were seen piling up positions Pharma, Metal and IT stocks, while selling was witnessed in FMCG and Media stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Cadila Healthcare, Jaiprakash Associates and The India Cements. On the other hand, the top losers were Godrej Industries, ITC and The South Indian Bank. 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 3.39% and reached 13.73. The 50-share Nifty was up by 53.30 points or 0.61% to settle at 8,778.00.
Nifty February 2017 futures closed at 8787.60 on Thursday at a premium of 9.60 points over spot closing of 8778.00, while Nifty March 2017 futures ended at 8821.25, at a premium of 43.25 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw a contraction of 0.47 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 24.62 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 23, 2017.
From the most active contracts, Tata Motors February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.65 points at 445.75 compared with spot closing of 444.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,060.
Infosys February 2017 futures traded at a discount of 1.30 points at 1010.70 compared with spot closing of 1,012.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,043.
Vedanta February 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.40 points at 263.40 compared with spot closing of 263.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,881.
State Bank of India February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 271.35 compared with spot closing of 270.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,776.
Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries February 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.30 points at 649.35 compared with spot closing of 649.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,270.
Among Nifty calls, 8800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.61 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8700 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.53 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (7.15 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (5.78 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8801.43--- Pivot Point 8760.52--- Support --- 8737.08.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.16 for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Oracle Financial Services Software (2.00), Eicher Motors (1.55), Bharti Airtel (1.48), Sun TV Network (1.42) and TVS Motor (1.25).
Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 0.86 million units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, followed by Vedanta witnessing a contraction of 0.14 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, Tata Motors witnessed a contraction of 8.72 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 1.31 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract and Infosys witnessed a contraction of 2.81 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract.
