Nifty snaps 6-day losing streak; reclaims 10,200 mark

Snapping six-day losing streak, the local benchmark Nifty ended higher on Thursday, backed by firm global cues. After making a positive start, index trimmed initial gains as Telugu Desam Party’s decision to pull out two of its ministers in the central government kept the underlying sentiments somewhat cautious. Market gained momentum as sentiments got boost with Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India’s economy bottomed out and is on the rise again, citing good third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the fiscal year 2017-18. He also said that the country’s economy had witnessed slow growth because of decline in private investment and other factors and added that this has all started changing and investment cycle has turned. The investors’ mood remained optimistic with report that the Indian government reiterated its pitch for a sovereign rating upgrade to Fitch, citing strong macro-economic fundamentals. Traders also took some encouragement with report highlighting that government is committed to bring down fiscal deficit in the medium term. The government also expects Asia's third largest economy to grow at 8 percent in the next couple of years.  Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that focus would be laid on development of 115 backward districts that he termed as ‘aspirational districts’ too added some support to the market. Investors took note of report stating that the government sought Parliament’s nod for additional cash spending of Rs 85,315.30 crore in the current fiscal, of which 70 per cent is earmarked to compensate states for revenue loss on account of GST roll out. 

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except FMCG, Metal and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Reliance Infrastructure, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Balrampur Chini Mills, Rural Electrification and IDBI Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,300-10,500 calls and 10,000-10,200 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 7.10% and reached 14.58. The 50-share Nifty was up by 88.45 points or 0.87% to settle at 10,242.65.

Nifty March 2018 futures closed at 10242.95 on Thursday, at a premium of 0.30 points over spot closing of 10242.65, while Nifty April 2018 futures ended at 10278.80, at a premium of 36.15 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw a contraction of 0.74 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 23.03 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 28, 2018.

From the most active contracts, State Bank of India March 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.30 points at 256.95 compared with spot closing of 256.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,220.

Yes Bank March 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.30 points at 308.55 compared with spot closing of 308.85. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,202.

Tata Steel March 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.55 points at 635.70 compared with spot closing of 636.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,790.

ICICI Bank March 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.30 points at 297.60 compared with spot closing of 297.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,697.

Sun Pharmaceutical March 2018 futures traded at a premium of 6.65 points at 516.65 compared with spot closing of 510.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,900.

Among Nifty calls, 10300 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.16 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.06 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10500 SP (5.24mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (5.15mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,293.20 ---- Pivot Point 10,219.80 --- Support --- 10169.25.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.84 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Repco Home Finance (1.59), OIL (1.46), Cummins India (1.40), Engineers India (1.22) and Power Grid (0.97).

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 4.63 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 1.41 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.50 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 1.13 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract and Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an addition of 0.01 million units of Open Interest in the March month future contract.