Nifty ends higher for fourth consecutive session

The local equity benchmark Nifty ended higher for the fourth consecutive session on Tuesday, amid positive cues from global markets. The index traded in green throughout the session, as sentiments got some boost with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India can benefit from the ongoing challenges in global trade provided it makes the right moves. His statement came in the wake of steadily escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies -- China and US. The Minister added that the Indian government is taking steps to boost exports, industrial growth and manufacturing activities. Some optimism also came with a private report showing that FPI investment limits in central government securities for general and long term investors have been increased by Rs 59,200 crore or over $9 billion to a total of Rs 3.15 lakh crore till the end of FY19. Some support also came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a 100-day deadline to the heads of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to come out with a roadmap with ‘measurable targets’ for strengthening state-owned companies and promoting development activities. Modi also suggested that their CSR spend should be focused largely on one specific theme each year. The market participants overlooked the credit rating agency, Crisil’s latest report which predicted the revenue growth rate of India Inc (excluding banks, financial services & insurance and oil & gas companies) to slow down to 9% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2017-18 on base effects.

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except Auto, FMCG, and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were SREI Infrastructure Finance, Axis Bank and Balrampur Chini Mills. On the other hand, the top losers were Mahanagar Gas, Indraprastha Gas and Bajaj Finserv.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.38% and reached 14.51. The 50-share Nifty was up by 22.90 points or 0.22% to settle at 10,402.25.

Nifty April 2018 futures closed at 10421.50 on Tuesday, at a premium of 19.25 points over spot closing of 10402.25, while Nifty May 2018 futures ended at 10452.95, at a premium of 50.70 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 0.19 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.59 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 26, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Axis Bank April 2018 futures traded at a discount of 2.25 points at 545.25 compared with spot closing of 547.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,052.

ICICI Bank April 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.15 points at 288.85 compared with spot closing of 288.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,653.

Tata Steel April 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.50 points at 602.90 compared with spot closing of 603.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,269.

State Bank of India April 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.25 points at 263.40 compared with spot closing of 263.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,558.

Hindalco Industries April 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.10 points at 229.90 compared with spot closing of 230.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,943.

Among Nifty calls, 10500 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.20 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10400 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.97 million open interests. The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,424.23 ---- Pivot Point 10,402.87 --- Support --- 10380.88.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.18 for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Bajaj Finance (1.66), ICICI Bank (1.32), Axis Bank (1.19), Hero MotoCorp (1.11) and Godrej Consumer Products (1.00)

Among most active underlying, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.61 million units of Open Interest in the April month futures contract, followed by Axis Bank witnessing an addition of 4.15 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 1.03 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract, Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 0.35 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract and Hindalco Industries witnessed a contraction of 2.75 million units of Open Interest in the April month future contract.