Nifty snaps 5-day losing streak; ends above 9100 mark

After trading in a tight range for most part of the session Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the session with moderate gains on Thursday, breaking the five session downtrend, as investors picked beaten down counters such as TCS and Infosys, while recovery in Asian and European markets also contributed to the gains. Sentiments remained optimistic with the report that a normal monsoon this year should continue to revive rural demand and allow the RBI to cut rates by 25 bps in August. According to the report, rural demand is already reviving and the autumn kharif farm income has jumped by 26 per cent last year. However, some traders remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of this week's French Presidential vote. Meanwhile, Aviation stocks like InterGlobe Aviation, SpiceJet and Jet Airways rallied after data showed that air traffic during March quarter was almost 18.6% higher than the corresponding period last year, while positive sentiments with vacation season kicking off, also added to the gains. Private sector banks witnessed selling pressure after lower than expected result posted by two leading private banks namely Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank, while good buying was observed in PSU banks as New NPA policy received in-principle nod as Prime Minister's Office, Finance Ministry and RBI reached a consensus. Going forward, an official forecast of an average monsoon in 2017 and expectations of positive quarterly results are expected to push markets higher in the near-term.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Consumer Durables and IT stocks, while selling was witnessed in Banking and Pharma stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were India Cements, Sun TV Network and InterGlobe Aviation. On the other hand, the top losers were IRB Infrastructure Developers, Yes Bank and Container Corporation of India. 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 decreased by 5.36% and reached 11.56. The 50-share Nifty was up by 32.90 points or 0.36% to settle at 9,136.40.

Nifty April 2017 futures closed at 9162.60 on Thursday at a premium of 26.2 points over spot closing of 9,136.40, while Nifty May 2017 futures ended at 9182.95, at a premium of 46.55 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw a contraction of 0.39 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.53 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 27, 2017.

From the most active contracts, India Cements April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.15 points at 189.90 compared with spot closing of 188.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,661.

Yes Bank April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 6.4 points at 1551.90 compared with spot closing of 1,545.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,724.

ICICI Bank April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1 points at 274.05 compared with spot closing of 273.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,271.

State Bank of India April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.2 point at 286.05 compared with spot closing of 284.85. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,359.

Jet Airways (India) April 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.45 points at 513.45 compared with spot closing of 511.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,156.Among Nifty calls, 9200 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.13 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9100 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.50 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9200 SP (5.16 mn) and that for Puts was at 9100 SP (5.90 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9152.65--- Pivot Point 9127.65--- Support --- 9111.40.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.13 for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were BOSCH (3.17), United Breweries (1.76), TVS Motor (1.34), Bajaj Finance (1.08) and DHFL (1.08).

Among most active underlying, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 0.62 million units of Open Interest in the April month futures contract, followed by Sun TV Network witnessing a contraction of 0.12 million units of Open Interest in the April  month contract, India Cements witnessed a contraction of 1.14  million units of Open Interest in the April month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.84 million units of Open Interest in the April  month future contract and ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.28 million units of Open Interest in the April  month future contract.