Nifty ends below 9850 mark; skids 67 points

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the lackluster session with losses of more than half a percent on Friday, on the back of weak global cues. The index was in red from the beginning as concerns spread among the investors with Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian’s statement that India’s thrust on renewable energy would create a double whammy for the government by reducing the viability of coal-fired thermal power plants and rising non-performing assets (NPAs) of state-run lenders. Some also cautiousness crept in after the Apparel Export Promotion Council’s (AEPC) report highlighted that minimum wages in the garment industry if doubled to Rs 18,000 per month will jack up costs, hit exports and lead to job losses. Besides, the steep losses in Infosys shares in the wake of CEO Vishal Sikka’s resignation, also weighed on the market. Traders failed to get relief from the private report stating that India’s tax revenues will benefit from a widening tax base and robust advance collections. However, it said that non-tax revenues will face speed-bumps in fiscal 2018.

Traders were seen piling up positions only in FMCG stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Pharma and Media stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Dish TV India, PC Jeweller and Bharti Infratel. On the other hand, the top losers were Infosys, Indiabulls Real Estate and Fortis Healthcare. 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 1.60% and reached 14.57. The 50-share Nifty was down by 66.75 points or 0.67% to settle at 9,837.40.

Nifty August 2017 futures closed at 9854.40 on Friday at a premium of 17 points over spot closing of 9837.40, while Nifty September 2017 futures ended at 9881.70 at a premium of 44.30 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw an addition of 0.05 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 25.04 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 4.00 points at 927.15 compared with spot closing of 923.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 1,89,498.

Bharat Financial Inclusion August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.75 points at 879.30 compared with spot closing of 875.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,485.

BEML August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 4.80 points at 1890.35 compared with spot closing of 1885.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,725.

Yes Bank August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 9.40 points at 1726.20 compared with spot closing of 1716.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,064.

Reliance Industries August 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 1576.30 compared with spot closing of 1576.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,003.

Among Nifty calls, 9900 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.74 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 9800 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.52 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10000 SP (5.90 mn) and that for Puts was at 9800 SP (5.89 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9874.35--- Pivot Point 9829.00--- Support --- 9792.05.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.94 for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Infibeam Incorporation (1.41), BOSCH (1.33), Nestle India (1.33), Indiabulls Real Estate (1.24) and Tata Steel (1.10).

Among most active underlying, Infosys witnessed an addition of 10.65 million units of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 2.76 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Reliance Capital witnessed an addition of 0.03 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.33 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract and Vedanta witnessed an addition of 0.33 million units of Open Interest in the August month future contract.