Nifty ends at fresh record high; surpasses 11,150 mark

Surpassing a crucial psychological level of 11,150, an Indian equity benchmark --Nifty-- ended the Thursday’s session at fresh record high with the gain of 0.32%. The index made a cheerful start and remained in green terrain for the most part of the session, aided by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India may register healthy growth rates in exports in the coming months, despite increasing global protectionism. He added that the country’s exports are expected to touch $350 billion in the current fiscal year (FY19). The street also took support with the global rating agency Moody’s Investor Service’s statement that the fund infusion in five weak public sector banks will be credit positive and strengthen their capitalization.

Further, in the last hour of the trade, the Nifty erased all its gains to slip into red terrain, as the investors booked profit ahead of F&O expiry of July month. Some concerns came with a report stating that as many as 59 mega central sector infrastructure projects, worth at least Rs 1,000 crore each, have reported cost overrun of Rs 1.36 lakh crore. However, market soon made recovery to hit fresh record high, tracking firm European markets. Besides, optimism spread among the market participants with Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s statement that India’s economy will breach the $5 trillion mark by 2025.

Traders were seen piling up positions in PSU Bank, FIN Service and Bank, while selling was witnessed in Media, Metal and IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Shriram Transport Finance Company, Rural Electrification Corporation and Bank of India. On the other hand, the top losers were Hindustan Zinc, Dish TV and Yes Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,800 -11,200 calls and 10,700 -11,100 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 1.41% and reached 12.03. The 50-share Nifty was up by 35.30 points or 0.32% to settle at 11,167.30.

Nifty August 2018 futures closed at 11201.35 on Thursday, at a premium of 34.05 points over spot closing of 11167.30, while Nifty September 2018 futures ended at 11216.35, at a premium of 49.05 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw an addition of 6.83 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.82 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 30, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 4.50 points at 371.95 compared with spot closing of 367.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,104.

Maruti Suzuki India August 2018 futures traded at a discount of 13.40 points at 9376.60 compared with spot closing of 9390.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,414.

ICICI Bank August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.70 points at 286.00 compared with spot closing of 284.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,319.

Tata Motors August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 259.60 compared with spot closing of 258.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,265.

SBI August 2018 futures traded at a discount of 1.50 points at 287.75 compared with spot closing of 289.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,231.

Among Nifty calls, 11200 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.27 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11100 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.76 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,200 SP (4.13mn) and that for Puts was at 11,000 SP (4.80 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,193.53 ---- Pivot Point 11,159.62 --- Support --- 11133.38.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.34 for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godfrey Phillips India (7.00), Max Financial Services (2.41), Dalmia Bharat (1.71), Jain Irrigation Systems (1.66) and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals (1.57).

Among most active underlying, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an addition of 0.64 million units of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 20.27 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 17.32 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 8.05 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 27.60 million units of Open Interest in the August month future contract.