Nifty snaps record run on late sell-off

Bringing a halt to the record-setting run, the local benchmark -- Nifty -- ended flat with a negative bias on Wednesday as investors booked profits. Investors around the world turned jittery after a powerful bomb exploded in the morning rush hour in the centre of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 80 people, wounding hundreds and sending clouds of black smoke into the sky above the presidential palace and foreign embassies. Traders remained cautious ahead of the gross domestic product (GDP) data for the March quarter and the full financial year 2016-17. However, investors took some encouragement from the Moody's Investors Service’s report that Indian economy will grow by 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal year, 7.7 per cent in 2018-19 and will reach to around 8 per cent in 3-4 years on the back of government's various reforms. Some support also came with India’s former chief statistician Pronab Sen’s statement that the country’s GDP for 2016-17 will get 50 basis points (bps) push to 7.6 per cent from the government’s estimate of 7.1 per cent, due to the recent revision of the base year of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Meanwhile, Aviation stocks gained traction on expectations that a slide in oil prices would reduce carriers' fuel cost, which typically constitute about 50% of airlines' operating costs.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Auto and Financial Services stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, IT and Media stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were United Spirits, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals.On the other hand, the top losers were Rural Electrification Corporation, Bank of India and Sintex Industries.  In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9400-10000 calls and 9000-9600 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 0.02% and reached 11.76. The 50-share Nifty was down by 3.30 points or 0.03% to settle at 9,621.25.

Nifty June 2017 futures closed at 9626.05 on Wednesday at a premium of 4.80 points over spot closing of 9621.25, while Nifty July 2017 futures ended at 9644.40, at a premium of 23.15 points over spot closing. Nifty June futures saw an addition of 1.07 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.87 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on June 29, 2017.

From the most active contracts, ICICI Bank June 2017 futures traded at a discount of 5.05 points at 321.95 compared with spot closing of 327.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,849.

Indian Oil Corporation June 2017 futures traded at a discount of 2.70 points at 426.45 compared with spot closing of 429.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,261.

Reliance Capital June 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 563.50 compared with spot closing of 563.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,733.

United Spirits June 2017 futures traded at a premium of 21.10 points at 2279.00 compared with spot closing of 2257.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,679.

Rural Electrification Corporation June 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.35 points at 193.60 compared with spot closing of 193.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,118.

Among Nifty calls, 9700 SP from the June month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.18 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9500 SP from the June month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.61 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9700 SP (4.39 mn) and that for Puts was at 9400 SP (5.70 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9644.15--- Pivot Point 9626.70--- Support --- 9603.80.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.16 for June month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Amara Raja Batteries (2.71), V-Guard Industries (2.00), Raymond (1.46), Indraprastha Gas (1.35) and Aditya Birla Nuvo (1.23).

Among most active underlying, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 29.07 million units of Open Interest in the June month futures contract, followed by Rural Electrification Corporation witnessing an addition of 1.45 million units of Open Interest in the June  month contract, Reliance Capital witnessed an addition of 1.38 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract, DLF witnessed an addition of 2.58 million units of Open Interest in the June  month future contract and Mahindra & Mahindra witnessed an addition of 0.56 million units of Open Interest in the June month future contract.