Nifty ends marginally lower

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the day on a negative note for third consecutive session on Monday, as investors remained cautious over rising geopolitical tensions. Sentiments also remained dampened with Reserve Bank of India's report that the credit growth plunged to a whopping six-decade low of 5.08% in the financial year 2016-17, as against 10.7% a year ago. Meanwhile, investors shrugged off the report that India's wholesale price index-based inflation fell to 5.7% in March from 6.5% in February, mainly due to a fall in mineral and fuel prices, while food prices continued to rise. The government data showed that mineral prices fell to 24% in March from a rise of 31% in February, while fuels became cheaper by 18% with diesel prices revised downwards. The unfavourable base affect is being cited as the major reason for the fall in the mineral and fuel prices. Some concerns also came with the report that India's current account deficit (CAD) is expected to widen to 1.6 per cent of GDP this year from 0.5 per cent in 2016, owing to higher commodity prices and an expected strong domestic recovery. Meanwhile, the Corporate India is among the fourth most optimistic globally as 85 per cent of the businesses are hopeful of economic recovery, compared to 48 per cent in China.

Traders were seen piling up positions only in Realty stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, IT and Pharma stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Indiabulls Real Estate, Housing Development & Infrastructure and DLF. On the other hand, the top losers were Reliance Communications, DCB Bank and Just Dial.  In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9000-9600 calls and 8500-9200 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 2.72% and reached 11.89. The 50-share Nifty was down by 11.50 points or 0.13% to settle at 9,139.30.

Nifty April 2017 futures closed at 9168.35 on Monday at a premium of 29.05 points over spot closing of 9,139.30, while Nifty May 2017 futures ended at 9192.45, at a premium of 53.15 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw a contraction of 0.11 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.29 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 27, 2017.

From the most active contracts, DLF April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.35 points at 173.35 compared with spot closing of 173.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,516.

Rural Electrification Corporation April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 points at 202.10 compared with spot closing of 201.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,110.

Indiabulls Real Estate April 2017 futures traded at a discount of 2.60 points at 147.75 compared with spot closing of 150.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,249.

Reliance Industries April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 4.20 point at 1395.65 compared with spot closing of 1,391.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,932.

Housing Development and Infrastructure April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.55 points at 93.50 compared with spot closing of 92.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,857.

Among Nifty calls, 9200 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.49 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9100 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.40 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9300 SP (5.19 mn) and that for Puts was at 9000 SP (5.83 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9159.45--- Pivot Point 9139.85--- Support --- 9119.70.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.10 for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were BOSCH (3.29), United Breweries (1.60), Bajaj Finance (1.27), Tata Consultancy Services (1.22) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (1.10).

Among most active underlying, DLF  witnessed an addition of 4.82 million units of Open Interest in the April month futures contract, followed by Rural Electrification Corporation witnessing an addition of 1.17 million units of Open Interest in the April  month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.53 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract, Indiabulls Real Estate witnessed a contraction of 15.50 million units of Open Interest in the April  month future contract and Housing Development & Infrastructure witnessed an addition of 4.58 million units of Open Interest in the April  month future contract.