Nifty ends higher for second straight session

Key Equity Benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the Monday’s trade in green terrain for second straight day, with Nifty ending at its fresh lifetime closing high, surpassing its crucial 11,550 mark for the first time ever. The index made an optimistic start and remained in the grip of bulls throughout the session as market participants took note of former chief economic advisor Arvind Virmani’s statement that India’s economic growth seems to be back on a recovery path and the country will be on a firm 7.5 per cent plus growth track this fiscal. Trader also took support from the Central Board of Direct Taxes’ (CBDT) statement that income Tax collection in the country stood at a record Rs 10.03 lakh crore during 2017-18. It also said during 2017-18, a record number of 6.92 crore I-T returns were filed, which was 1.31 crore more than 5.61 crore returns filed in 2016-17.

In the afternoon deals, the market was at day’s peak, as local currency also cheered market sentiments. The rupee recovered from all-time low by rising 33 paise to 69.83 against the US dollar on Monday on fresh selling of the greenback by exporters and banks ahead of US-China trade talks this week. Investors also note of the Fitch Ratings’ latest report which stated that the impact of currency weakness on India’s sovereign credit profile is likely to be limited on the back of relatively strong external finances, especially the low level of external debt. It also said currency depreciation could nevertheless add to existing pressures in the corporate and banking sectors. Market overlooked a report that India’s current account deficit (CAD) will widen to 2.5 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal due to higher oil prices that has been accentuated by rupee depreciation.

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Hindustan Construction, Larsen & Toubro and Divi's Laboratories. On the other hand, the top losers were The Federal Bank, Infosys and The South Indian Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,400-11,700 calls and 11,200- 11,500 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 0.97% and reached 13.03. The 50-share Nifty was up by 81.00 points or 0.71% to settle at 11,551.75.

Nifty August 2018 futures closed at 11578.95 on Monday, at a premium of 27.20 points over spot closing of 11551.75, while Nifty September 2018 futures ended at 11611.65, at a premium of 59.90 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw an addition of 0.45 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 30.01 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 30, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Larsen & Toubro August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.40 points at 1324.45 compared with spot closing of 1323.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 31,694.

Tata Motors August 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.30 points at 270.25 compared with spot closing of 270.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,568.

Tata Steel August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 600.25 compared with spot closing of 600.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,124.

Infosys August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 2.10 points at 1390.30 compared with spot closing of 1388.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,973.

Reliance Industries August 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 1235.20 compared with spot closing of 1235.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,864.

Among Nifty calls, 11600 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.21 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11500 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.56 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,600 SP (3.38mn) and that for Puts was at 11,400 SP (4.35mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11578.15 ---- Pivot Point 11538.90 --- Support --- 11512.50.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.57 for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Dish TV (2.05), Axis Bank (1.43), Godfrey Phillips India (1.38), ICICI Bank (1.25) and Interglobe Aviation (1.25).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 1.35 million units of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed by Larsen & Toubro witnessing a contraction of 0.28 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.65 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.13 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract and Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 1.12 million units of Open Interest in the August month future contract.