Nifty ends at record high; surpasses 10,550 mark

The benchmark index Nifty ended at fresh record closing high on Friday, surpassing its crucial 10,550 mark, tracking strong leads from global equity markets. The index opened on a positive note and continued its rally throughout the session to close at all time high point, amid global ratings agency, Fitch Ratings’ latest report stating that the country has the potential to grow at an average of 6.7 percent per annum over the next five years and will be the fastest growing large economies. Traders were also optimistic, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assured that the positive impact of the government’s reform measures would get reflected in the medium to long term. He further noted that India is the only economy which could maintain a growth rate of 7-8% amid challenges like the country’s weak public sector banks (PSBs) and initial disturbance of demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST). The market participants also took note of report that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has urged the government to lower the corporate tax from 30 percent to 28 percent in the upcoming Union Budget 2018-19.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green except PSU Bank. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Idea Cellular, Equitas Holdings and Just Dial. On the other hand, the top losers were Cummins India, Bharti Infratel and SREI Infrastructure Finance. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10400-11000 calls and 10000-10500 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 2.25% and reached 13.11. The 50-share Nifty was up by 54.05 points or 0.51% to settle at 10,558.85.

Nifty January 2018 futures closed at 10573.20 on Friday, at a premium of 14.35 points over spot closing of 10558.85, while Nifty February 2018 futures ended at 10595.40, at a premium of 36.55 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 1.36 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 25.27 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 25, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.55 points at 333.45 compared with spot closing of 332.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,559.

Idea Cellular January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 116.05 compared with spot closing of 115.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,543.

Tata Steel January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.00 points at 771.40 compared with spot closing of 770.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,473.

Reliance Capital January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 3.10 points at 604.15 compared with spot closing of 601.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,509.

Tata Motors January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.40 points at 431.75 compared with spot closing of 430.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,343.

Among Nifty calls, 10600 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.57 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10500 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.38 million open interests.  The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11000 SP (4.33 mn) and that for Puts was at 10400 SP (6.08 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10576.60--- Pivot Point 10548.35--- Support --- 10530.60.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.22 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Jindal Steel & Power (1.47), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (1.13), Tata Steel (1.02), IDFC Bank (0.98) and Grasim Industries (0.98).

Among most active underlying, Idea Cellular witnessed an addition of 1.98 million units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Yes Bank witnessing  a contraction of 0.13 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Tata Steel  witnessed a contraction of 1.24 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of  0.008 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract and State Bank of India witnessed  an addition of 2.91 million units of Open Interest in the January month future contract.