Nifty crosses 9,500 mark for the first time

Indian local benchmark --- Nifty --- extended its record-breaking run on Tuesday to finish the day above 9,500 mark for the first time ever, as expectations of good monsoon rains eased inflation fears and bolstered the economic growth outlook. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that monsoon rains are expected to arrive on the southern Kerala coast on May 30, two days ahead of schedule. It also said India looks likely to receive higher monsoon rainfall than previously forecast as concern over the El Nino weather condition has eased. Sentiment remained upbeat with robust foreign fund inflows and better-than-expected earnings report cards by some blue-chip companies so far. Traders took some encouragement with FICCI’s latest Economic Outlook Survey pegging India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth at around 7.4% for the fiscal year 2017-18. Besides, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal’s statement that the development of ports along with roads and railways would help boost economic growth in the country to a larger extent, also remained supportive for the market. Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit swelled to a 29-month high in April as imports led by gold grew sharper than exports. While Imports grew 49% from a year ago to $37.8 billion, buoyed by a 211% rise in gold imports, exports increased 19.7% to $24.6 billion, widening trade deficit to $13.2 billion from $4.8 billion in the year ago period.

Traders were seen piling up positions in PSU, AUTO and IT stocks, while selling was witnessed in Media, Metal and Pharma stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Adani Power, Granules India and The Karnataka Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were United Breweries, Bharat Financial Inclusion and Godrej Consumer Products. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9300-9700 calls and 8800-9500 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 1.08% and reached 10.56. The 50-share Nifty was up by 66.85 points or 0.71%to settle at 9,512.25.

Nifty May 2017 futures closed at 9522.15 on Tuesday at a premium of 9.90 points over spot closing of 9512.25, while Nifty June 2017 futures ended at 9520.75, at a premium of 8.50 points over spot closing. Nifty May futures saw an addition of 0.62 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.73 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on May 25, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Punjab National Bank May 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.55 points at 174.75 compared with spot closing of 173.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 55,313.

State Bank of India May 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.55 points at 307.50 compared with spot closing of 308.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,019.

Tata Steel May 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.55 points at 458.25 compared with spot closing of 456.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,603.

Reliance Industries May 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.20 points at 1356.00 compared with spot closing of 1356.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,280.

Yes Bank May 2017 futures traded at a premium of 11.20 points at 1488.30 compared with spot closing of 1477.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,994.

Among Nifty calls, 9500 SP from the May month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.98  million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9400 SP from the May month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.63 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9500 SP (5.74 mn) and that for Puts was at 9300 SP (7.40 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9534.18--- Pivot Point 9495.27--- Support --- 9473.33.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.43 for May month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Infibeam Incorporation (2.22), Eicher Motors (1.91), Hero MotoCorp (1.69), Bharti Airtel (1.66) and Kotak Bank (1.45).

Among most active underlying, Punjab National Bank witnessed an addition of 5.46 million units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 0.96 million units of Open Interest in the May  month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.24 million units of Open Interest in the May month contract, Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 0.03 million units of Open Interest in the May  month future contract and Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.03 million units of Open Interest in the May month future contract.