Nifty close at new record high; adds gains of 30 points

Key Indian benchmark Nifty closed at the new record high on last trading day of the week, backed by firm global cues. The index traded in green for most part of the day, as sentiments were positive with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that economy is expected to clock growth of 7.5 percent in 2018. He further noted that as the economy picks up, employment will pick up. Some support also came with US-India Strategic Partnership Forum’s (USISPF) report that India's decision to relax FDI norms in various sectors would make it a much more attractive destination for overseas investors. However, selling crept in during the mid-session of trade, as traders were cautious ahead of corporate earnings and macro data (November IIP and December CPI inflation) due later today. Some anxiety also came with India Ratings and Research’s latest report that private sector capital expenditure growth is expected to remain muted with slowing pace, for next two financial years on account of weak domestic consumption demand, global overcapacity and negative impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on working capital. Market recovered in last leg of trade and ended at new record high as traders took some support from private report that economic indicators like PMIs, vehicle sales and steel demand suggest that growth momentum in India has gathered pace in December.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, Media and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Pharma and FMCG stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were TV18 Broadcast, Just Dial and Tata Global Beverages. On the other hand, the top losers were Dish TV India, Reliance Communications and GMR Infrastructure.  In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10500-11100 calls and 10000-10600 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 2.00% and reached 13.73. The 50-share Nifty was up by 30.05 points or 0.28% to settle at 10,681.25.

Nifty January 2018 futures closed at 10686.35 on Friday, at a premium of 5.10 points over spot closing of 10681.25, while Nifty February 2018 futures ended at 10708.55, at a premium of 27.30 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 0.21 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 28.73 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 25, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 2.75 points at 949.35 compared with spot closing of 946.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,499.

Infosys January 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.40 points at 1078.25 compared with spot closing of 1078.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,139.

Maruti Suzuki India January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 32.45 points at 9492.45 compared with spot closing of 9460.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,241.

ICICI Bank January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.65 points at 318.90 compared with spot closing of 317.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,071.

Tata Global Beverages January 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.15 points at 326.10 compared with spot closing of 325.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,050.

Among Nifty calls, 10700 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.22 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10600 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.77 million open interests.  The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11000 SP (4.73 mn) and that for Puts was at 10500 SP (8.15 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10715.40--- Pivot Point 10656.25--- Support --- 10622.10.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.51 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Jindal Steel & Power (1.34), Sun TV Network (1.19), Wockhardt (1.19), Tech Mahindra (1.11) and Tata Steel (0.97).

Among most active underlying, Tata Consultancy Services witnessed a contraction of 0.10 million units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing  a contraction of 1.49 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.04 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Tata Global Beverages witnessed a contraction of  2.15 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract and Infosys witnessed  a contraction of 0.73 million units of Open Interest in the January month future contract.