Nifty ends marginally higher on Thursday

Stretching its gains to day three, Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the session marginally higher on Thursday amidst volatile trade. The market remained in positive mood for the most part of the day with taking support from the report that the government revised upward the country’s overall foodgrain production by 2.3 million tonnes to a record 275.68 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year that ended in June. Meanwhile, the government approval for a new metro rail policy which opens a big window for private investments across a range of operations, making PPP component mandatory for availing central assistance, also provided some support. However, gains remained capped as the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee (MPC) members warned inflation could start accelerating later this year. Besides, negative European markets coupled with profit booking pared most of the gains of the index.

Traders were seen piling up positions in IT, Metal and Media stocks, while selling was witnessed in Pharma, Auto and PSU stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were GMR Infrastructure, BEML and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals. On the other hand, the top losers were Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Ajanta Pharma and Adani Power. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9900-10500 calls and 9400-10000 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 0.72% and reached 14.34. The 50-share Nifty was up by 6.85 points or 0.07% to settle at 9,904.15.

Nifty August 2017 futures closed at 9909.45 on Thursday at a premium of 5.30 points over spot closing of 9904.15, while Nifty September 2017 futures ended at 9939.00 at a premium of 34.85 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw an addition of 1.39 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 24.98 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 31, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Infosys August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.15 points at 1021.20 compared with spot closing of 1021.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,222.

Vedanta August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 305.45 compared with spot closing of 304.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,844.

Reliance Industries August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 5.20 points at 1568.20 compared with spot closing of 1563.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,990.

BEML August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.85 points at 1865.70 compared with spot closing of 1861.85. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,505.

Yes Bank August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 5.45 points at 1743.95 compared with spot closing of 1738.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,052.

Among Nifty calls, 10000 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.19 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9800 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.14 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10000 SP (5.36 mn) and that for Puts was at 9800 SP (6.41 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9940.05--- Pivot Point 9911.90--- Support --- 9876.00.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.04 for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were BOSCH (1.50), Infibeam Incorporation (1.47), Nestle India (1.33), Indiabulls Real Estate (1.28) and Tata Steel (1.12).

Among most active underlying, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.67 million units of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed by Vedanta witnessing an addition of 0.88 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.80 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 2.90 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract and Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 0.37 million units of Open Interest in the August month future contract.