Nifty ends flat with positive bias

Holding crucial psychological level of 10,800, an Indian equity benchmark Nifty ended flat with a positive bias on last trading day of the week, tracking sluggish global markets. After a cautious start, the index altered between green and red territory throughout the session, as anxiety spread among the investors with a report showing that Private equity (PE) investments saw 50% decline in value terms in May at $1,180 million amid fall in big-ticket deals and cautious investor approach. Adding some concerns, India’s trade deficit widened to four-month high of $14.62 billion in May as imports surged nearly 15%. Exports in May rose by 28.18% to $28.86 billion while imports were up 14.85% to $43.48 billion. Trade deficit widened to $14.62 billion from $13.84 billion in May 2017. Oil imports were up 49.46% to $11.5 billion on back of surge in international crude prices. However, in the last leg of trade, the Nifty erased all of its losses to end slightly above neutral line, amid report that India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan conveying India’s concerns when he met ambassadors of OPEC countries in India over high international oil prices. Some relief also came with a report that India’s home loans touched double-digit mark as a percentage of GDP in the financial year 2018. Housing credit grew 16% in FY18, taking the mortgage penetration to a double-digit mark of 10% for the first time in FY18, up from 9.5% in FY17. Traders also drew some solace with a private report stating that the Centre is planning to change labour laws in order to raise the basic income of salaried employees.  

All the sectoral indices ended in red on the NSE, except IT and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Strides Shasun and Ajanta Pharma. On the other hand, the top losers were Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, Allahabad Bank and IFCI. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,900-11,000 calls and 10,500-10,700 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 0.21% and reached 12.07. The 50-share Nifty was up by 9.65 points or 0.09% to settle at 10,817.70.

Nifty June 2018 futures closed at 10814.65 on Friday, at a discount of 3.05 points over spot closing of 10817.70, while Nifty July 2018 futures ended at 10823.80, at a premium of 6.10 points over spot closing. Nifty June futures saw an addition of 0.77 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 24.64 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on June 28, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Tata Consultancy Services June 2018 futures traded at a premium of 4.15 points at 1844.15 compared with spot closing of 1840.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,227.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories June 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.75 points at 2357.15 compared with spot closing of 2357.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,021.

Reliance Industries June 2018 futures traded at a discount of 2.65 points at 1009.80 compared with spot closing of 1012.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,477.

Lupin June 2018 futures traded at a premium of 3.50 points at 912.60 compared with spot closing of 909.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,958.

Sun Pharmaceutical June 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.60 points at 571.40 compared with spot closing of 572.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,832. 

Among Nifty calls, 10800 SP from the June month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.21 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10800 SP from the

June month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.22 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11000 SP (4.35 mn) and that for Puts was at 10700 SP (4.80 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,849.33 ---- Pivot Point 10,802.37 --- Support --- 10770.73.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.21 for June month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Cummins India (1.54), Just Dial (1.49), Siemens (1.28), Sun Pharmaceutical (1.08) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (1.06).

Among most active underlying, Tata Consultancy Services witnessed an addition of 0.26 million units of Open Interest in the June month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 1.37 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.77 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories witnessed an addition of 0.05 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 5.55 million units of Open Interest in the June month future contract.