Nifty settles near all-time closing high; up on Q1 results

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- settled the last trading day of the week on a positive note, driven by firm buying along with healthy quarterly results from index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries (RIL) and Wipro. The market made a positive opening with taking support from the private report stating that strong import growth in June points to continued recovery in India’s domestic demand and highlighted that economic expansion will accelerate from the April-June quarter. In noon deals though the index plunged down as some anxiety spread among the investors with ADB’s statement that the goods and services tax is expected to boost growth in the medium term, however there may be some teething pains as firms adjust to the new system, it ended the session in green near all-time closing high. Sentiments got some support with Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the coal cess will contribute to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation fund meant to compensate states for five years for loss of revenue from implementation of GST. Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan (NTFAP) which aims to transform cross-border clearance ecosystem through efficient, transparent, risk-based, co-ordinated, digital, seamless and technology driven procedures which are supported by advanced sea ports, airports, and land borders.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.03% and reached 11.08. The 50-share Nifty was up by 41.95 points or 0.42% to settle at 9,915.25.

Nifty July 2017 futures closed at 9910.55 on Friday at a discount of 4.70 points over spot closing of 9915.25, while Nifty August 2017 futures ended at 9946.80 at a premium of 31.55 points over spot closing. Nifty July futures saw a contraction of 0.19 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.01 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on July 27, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries July 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.55 points at 1587.55 compared with spot closing of 1584.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 1,14,812.

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation July 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.45 points at 459.90 compared with spot closing of 457.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,394.

Bharti Airtel July 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.40 points at 410.60 compared with spot closing of 411.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,384.

Idea Cellular July 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.40 points at 92.05 compared with spot closing of 91.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,834.

Axis Bank July 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.25 points at 540.15 compared with spot closing of 540.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,508.

Among Nifty calls, 9900 SP from the July month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.48 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9800 SP from the July month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.03 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10000 SP (6.78 mn) and that for Puts was at 9800 SP (6.46 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9947.30--- Pivot Point 9892.65--- Support --- 9860.60.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.44 for July month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Indiabulls Real Estate (1.54), Infibeam Incorporation (1.52), Berger Paints India (1.39), Bajaj Finance (1.28) and Bharti Airtel (1.27).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.49 million units of Open Interest in the July month futures contract, followed by Dewan Housing Finance Corporation witnessing a contraction of 1.14 million units of Open Interest in the July month contract, Ashok Leyland witnessed a contraction of 1.96 million units of Open Interest in the July month contract, Idea Cellular witnessed an addition of 2.14 million units of Open Interest in the July month future contract and Tata Steel  witnessed a contraction of 1.10 million units of Open Interest in the July month future contract.