Nifty ends on bearish note on Thursday

Key Indian benchmark, Nifty closed Thursday’s trading session on a bearish note. Nifty 50 dipped below the 11,400 mark, mirroring weak global cues on concerns over Turkey's financial crisis along with sustained foreign fund outflows. The index made a pessimistic start with a report that India’s trade deficit soared to a near five-year high of $18 billion. The commerce ministry data showed that the country’s exports rose by 14.32% to $25.77 billion in July mainly on account of better performance of gems and jewellery sector as well as petroleum products. Traders also remained on the sidelines as India Ratings’ report stated that if the steep decline in the household savings rate -- which has fallen to 16.3% from 23.6% between fiscals 2012 and 2017 -- continues, it may pose a serious challenge to overall growth and the macroeconomic stability.

But, market started getting some solace during the noon deals and traded slightly positive with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in its latest Economic Outlook Survey stating that the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.4% in the current fiscal, higher than the previous year. However, index failed to hold the grip and lost the momentum in late trade to end near intraday low, as traders took note of a report that India’s crude oil import bill is likely to jump by about $26 billion in 2018-19 as rupee dropping to a record low has made buying of oil from overseas costlier.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Pharma, IT and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in Financial Services, Metal and PSU Bank. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Jet Airways, Hindustan Construction and United Breweries. On the other hand, the top losers were Reliance Communications, Jain Irrigation Systems and SREI Infrastructure Finance. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,200-11,600 calls and 10,800 - 11,200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 2.73% and reached 13.64. The 50-share Nifty was down by 50.05 points or 0.44% to settle at 11,385.05.

Nifty August 2018 futures closed at 11410.90 on Thursday, at a premium of 25.85 points over spot closing of 11385.05, while Nifty September 2018 futures ended at 11443.40, at a premium of 58.35 points over spot closing.  Nifty August futures saw an addition of 0.31 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 28.74 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 30, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Sun Pharmaceutical August 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.60 points at 620.40 compared with spot closing of 621.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 39,961.

Axis Bank August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.55 points at 625.85 compared with spot closing of 625.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,644.

ICICI Bank August 2018 futures traded at a discount of 2.50 points at 333.35 compared with spot closing of 335.85. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,234.

State Bank of India August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 293.95 compared with spot closing of 293.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,069.

Reliance Industries August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 4.60 points at 1204.60 compared with spot closing of 1200.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,016.

Among Nifty calls, 11500 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.33 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11400 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.19 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,500 SP (4.54mn) and that for Puts was at 11,000 SP (4.81mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,434.52 ---- Pivot Point 11,400.38 --- Support --- 11,350.92.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.36 for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Dish TV (1.77), Axis Bank (1.51), Havells (1.28), United Breweries (1.28) and Adani Enterprises (1.28).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.54 million units of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed by Sun Pharmaceutical witnessing a contraction of 1.37 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 1.00 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.27 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract and Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 0.33 million units of Open Interest in the August month future contract.