Nifty ends higher for seventh consecutive session

Key Indian benchmark Nifty ended higher for the seventh consecutive session on Friday, driven by gains in FMCG and Pharma stocks. The index held the gaining momentum till end of the session, with taking support from the private report that the slowdown in the economy has bottomed out, and going forward, the pace of recovery will depend on initiatives the government takes to boost growth momentum, especially private investment. The market also got some encouragement with Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) statement that the government's recent move to give infrastructure status to the logistics industry in India, will not only spur growth, but will also bring in more investments into this sector. Adding some gains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that direct transfer of government benefits using technology, bank accounts and biometric identifier Aadhaar has helped save $10 billion in subsidies. Sentiments remained optimistic with the Union minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the commerce and industry ministry is chalking out a 'proper' business plan based on market research in its bid to promote exports of goods and services. Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) plans to ease takeover rules to speed up the resolution of insolvency proceedings for stressed companies as local lenders seek to recover about Rs 9 lakh crore from entities rendered unviable by the mounting debt pile.

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except Metal and PSU Banking.  The top gainers from the F&O segment were GMR Infrastructure, TV18 Broadcast and Fortis Healthcare. On the other hand, the top losers were PVR, Indiabulls Real Estate and Hindustan Zinc. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10300-10800 calls and 9900-10400 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 2.54% and reached 13.51. The 50-share Nifty was up by 40.95 points or 0.40% to settle at 10,389.70.

Nifty November 2017 futures closed at 10409.35 on Friday, at a premium of 19.65 points over spot closing of 10389.70, while Nifty December 2017 futures ended at 10445.35, at a premium of 55.65 points over spot closing. Nifty November futures saw a contraction of 1.29 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.89 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on November 30, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Infosys November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 point at 1008.90 compared with spot closing of 1008.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,905.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.65 points at 550.15 compared with spot closing of 549.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,843.

Reliance Industries November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.30 points at 952.55 compared with spot closing of 951.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,701.

Indiabulls Housing Finance November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.55 points at 1173.55 compared with spot closing of 1171.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 11,225.

State Bank of India November 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.15 points at 333.25 compared with spot closing of 332.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 10,638.
Among Nifty calls, 10400 SP from the November month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.34 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10300 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.14 million open interests.  The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10500 SP (5.95 mn) and that for Puts was at 10300 SP (6.17 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10408.72--- Pivot Point 10385.48--- Support --- 10366.47.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.21 for November month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godrej Consumer Products (3.93), JSW Energy (2.51), Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (1.39), Maruti Suzuki India (1.34) and DLF (1.29).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 2.39 million units of Open Interest in the November month futures contract, followed by Infosys witnessing  a contraction of 2.47 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.32 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract, Titan Company witnessed an addition of  0.45 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract and Tata Motors witnessed  a contraction of 2.32 million units of Open Interest in the November month future contract.