Nifty settles lower; ends below 10,450 mark

The local benchmark Nifty settled lower on Thursday, with losses of 16.70 points amid weak global cues. The index traded with volatility throughout the session, as investors booked some profits on back of poor quarterly results from some companies. However, downside remained capped with private report stating that India’s current account deficit (CAD) for this financial year is expected to be around $ 40 billion, or 1.5 per cent of GDP. CAD rose sharply to $ 14.3 billion, 2.4 per cent of GDP, at the end of first quarter of 2017-18. Some support also came with Former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’ statement that improvement in ease of doing business is extremely relevant and will promote private investment, growth and job creation. Meanwhile, GST Network, which developed the technology backbone for new indirect tax regime, has launched an offline tool for filing purchase returns GSTR-2.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Pharma and Financial Services stocks, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Metal and Media stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Infibeam Incorporation, Divi's Laboratories and Hexaware Technologies. On the other hand, the top losers were Union Bank of India, IDFC Bank and Tech Mahindra. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10300-10700 calls and 9800-10400 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 1.09% and reached 12.00. The 50-share Nifty was down by 16.70 points or 0.16% to settle at 10,423.80.

Nifty November 2017 futures closed at 10455.00 on Thursday at a premium of 31.20 points over spot closing of 10423.80, while Nifty December 2017 futures ended at 10496.20 at a premium of 72.40 points over spot closing. Nifty November futures saw an addition of 1.06 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 25.38 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on November 30, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.95 point at 566.85 compared with spot closing of 563.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,085.

Divi's Laboratories November 2017 futures traded at a discount of 4.85 points at 1076.05 compared with spot closing of 1080.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,117

Aurobindo Pharma November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 4.55 points at 794.55 compared with spot closing of 790.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,566.

State Bank of India November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.65 points at 315.85 compared with spot closing of 314.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,907.

ICICI Bank November 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.70 points at 315.45 compared with spot closing of 316.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,781.

Among Nifty calls, 10500 SP from the November month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.18 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10400 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.22 million open interests.  The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10500 SP (3.23 mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (5.33 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10447.02--- Pivot Point 10429.78--- Support --- 10406.57.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.38 for November month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Repco Home Finance (7.10), Godrej Consumer Products (3.90), JSW Energy (1.62), Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company (1.49) and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (1.40).

Among most active underlying, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3.99 million units of Open Interest in the November month futures contract, followed by Divi's Laboratories witnessing  a contraction of 0.02 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1.46 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of  0.64 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract and Bharti Airtel witnessed  a contraction of 0.19 million units of Open Interest in the November month future contract.