Nifty snaps three days losing streak; ends above 9,050 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- snapped three days losing trend and ended higher on Thursday, tracking a recovery in global markets ahead of a key vote on US health care bill later today. Continued inflow of foreign institutional investors to domestic market and hopes that the government will implement the GST tentatively from July 1 gave some stability to the market. Sentiments remained optimistic with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India’s GDP can grow by 7-8 percent if the global economy picks up. He also said that the new tax regime is likely to lower the cost of commodities and also make tax evasion difficult. Some support also came with Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that implementation of GST, the new indirect tax regime, would help remove barriers between the states and make exports more competitive. Meanwhile, there was scrip specific action in certain stocks after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday introduced Futures and Options (F&O) contracts in 15 individual securities. These stocks will be available for trading from March 31, 2017. Reliance Defence, InterGlobe Aviation, PVR, among others will be included in the list. Among financials, Capital First, Muthoot Finance, Equitas Holdings, Ujjivan Financial Services, Max Financial Services and Indian Bank will be included in the list, while Dalmia Bharat, Infibeam Incorporation, Suzlon Energy, Piramal Enterprises, Escorts, and Shree Cements are the other stocks to be included.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, Auto and Pharma stocks, while selling was witnessed only in FMCG stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Global Beverages, Jet Airways (India) and Bharat Financial Inclusion.  On the other hand, the top losers were PC Jeweller, Britannia Industries and TVS Motor Company. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8900-9500 calls and 8400-9100 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 3.54% and reached 11.83. The 50-share Nifty was up by 55.85 points or 0.62% to settle at 9,086.30.

Nifty March 2017 futures closed at 9107.65 on Thursday at a premium of 21.35 points over spot closing of 9086.30, while Nifty April 2017 futures ended at 9135.85, at a premium of 49.55 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.03 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 26.22 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 30, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank March 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.10 points at 1520.00 compared with spot closing of 1,518.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,949.

Vedanta March 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.70 points at 266.40 compared with spot closing of 265.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,679.

Reliance Capital March 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.15 points at 613.25 compared with spot closing of 610.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,336.

Bharat Financial Inclusion March 2017 futures traded at a premium of 4.80 points at 845.50 compared with spot closing of 840.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,324.

Tata Motors March 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.15 points at 473.40 compared with spot closing of 471.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,288 .

Among Nifty calls, 9100 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.43 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an adiition of 0.59 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9200 SP (6.07 mn) and that for Puts was at 8800 SP (5.54 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9107.37--- Pivot Point 9077.98--- Support --- 9056.92.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.09 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.40), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (1.08), Ultratech Cement (1.04), Cairn India (1.03) and HDFC Bank (1.02).

Among most active underlying, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 0.21 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Vedanta witnessing a contraction  of 4.60 million units of Open Interest in the March  month contract, Reliance Capital witnessed an addition of 0.61 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Bharat Financial Inclusion witnessed an addition of 3.22 million units of Open Interest in the March  month future contract and Tata Motors witnessed a contraction of 4.30 million units of Open Interest in the March  month future contract.