Nifty ends on positive note; settles above 10,600 mark

Key equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished Thursday’s trading session on a positive note, crossing 10,600 level amid easing crude oil prices, firm rupee and fresh foreign fund inflows. The barometer made a positive start and traded with small gains, as traders took some encouragement with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra’s statement that direct tax collection has already crossed Rs 5 lakh crore that is 44% of the net direct tax collection target and will exceed the budgeted target of Rs 11.5 crore set for the current fiscal. Some support also came with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) calling for a change in regulations to improve access to credit for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), which the lobby group says are facing increased risk of financial stress due to a liquidity crunch in the market.

Index added some gains in the afternoon session, as market participants took some support with a report stating that the government will seek immediate relief on liquidity and credit availability at the board meeting of the Reserve Bank of India on November 19. However, Nifty pared some of its gains in the last leg of trade but managed to end in green amid Assocham Secretary General Uday Kumar Varma’s statement that expanding investment in infrastructure will generate jobs, promote tourism and play catalytic role in overall growth and development of Indian economy. He also said that the government’s vision for new and improved infrastructure that can serve the nation for a long time.

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except FMCG. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Jet Airways (India), Max Financial Services and Allahabad Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were PC Jeweller, Vodafone Idea and Page Industries. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,700-11,100 calls and 9800 -10,200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 1.97% and reached 18.45. The 50-share Nifty was up by 40.40 points or 0.38% to settle at 10,616.70.

Nifty November 2018 futures closed at 10630.55 on Thursday, at a premium of 13.85 points over spot closing of 10616.70, while Nifty December 2018 futures ended at 10674.20, at a premium of 57.50 points over spot closing. Nifty November futures saw a contraction of 0.07 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 23.67 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on November 29, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank November 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.45 points at 206.35 compared with spot closing of 205.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 42,390.

ICICI Bank November 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.10 points at 369.65 compared with spot closing of 369.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,312.

Axis Bank November 2018 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 626.35 compared with spot closing of 623.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,543.

Reliance Industries November 2018 futures traded at a premium of 3.60 points at 1098.30 compared with spot closing of 1094.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,341.

HDFC Bank November 2018 futures traded at a premium of 6.55 points at 1979.65 compared with spot closing of 1973.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,003.

Among Nifty calls, 10700 SP from the November month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.20 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10,600 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.28 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,000 SP (3.41mn) and that for Puts was at 10,000 SP (4.90mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,656.30 ---- Pivot Point 10,606.90 --- Support --- 10,567.30.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.49 for November month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Adani Power (1.98), IDBI (1.88), UPL (1.47), OIL (1.44) and Pidilite Industries (1.23).

Among most active underlying, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 1.18 million units of Open Interest in the November month futures contract, followed by Yes Bank witnessing an addition of 5.33 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.48 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract, Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.89 million units of Open Interest in the November month contract and Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.14 million units of Open Interest in the November month future contract.