Nifty finishes flat on week global cues; settles above 10,800-mark

Key equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished choppy session on slightly higher note, buoyed by gains in Realty, FMCG and Auto sectors. Barometer made a negative start, as traders remained concerned with Moody’s statement that liquidity constraints faced by some non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) will likely tighten overall credit supply and slow India’s economic growth rate to just above 7% for the fiscal 2019 and 2020. In addition, any further distress in the Indian NBFI sector will pose significant downside risks to India's growth outlook. Sentiments remained negative with SBI Research report stating that Modi government may announce a holistic or selective farm loan waiver, however, it could be the ‘worst solution’ to alleviate farmers’ distress.

However, markets traded volatile throughout the session and somehow managed to end slightly in green, as traders found some support with the data showing that inflation based on wholesale prices fell to a three-month low of 4.64 percent in November, as prices of food articles, especially vegetables, softened. The WPI-based inflation stood was 5.28 percent in October and 4.02 percent in November last year. Besides, a report also stated that with Export-Import (Exim) Bank report that India’s merchandise shipments is expected to rise by 7 per cent to $82.39 billion during the third quarter this fiscal. Non-oil exports are projected to increase by 7.2 per cent to $71.45 billion.

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except Pharma, Fin service and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Bharti Airtel and PC Jeweller. On the other hand, the top losers were Torrent Power, The South Indian Bank and Aurobindo Pharma. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,900-11,200 calls and 9900 -10,100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.52% and reached 15.15. The 50-share Nifty was up by 13.90 points 0.13% to settle at 10,805.45.

Nifty December 2018 futures closed at 10820.30 on Friday, at a premium of 14.85 points over spot closing of 10805.45, while Nifty January 2019 futures ended at 10869.75, at a premium of 64.30 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw a contraction of 0.53 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.03 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 27, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 181.05 compared with spot closing of 179.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 48,530.

Reliance Industries December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 4.30 points at 1114.30 compared with spot closing of 1110.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,184.

PC Jeweller December 2018 futures traded flat 82.65 compared with spot closing of 82.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,727.

Reliance Infrastructure December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 2.20 points at 293.10 compared with spot closing of 290.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,344.

Motherson Sumi Systems December 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.65 points at 165.95 compared with spot closing of 166.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,343.

Among Nifty calls, 10900 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.05 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10,800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.45 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,000 SP (5.04mn) and that for Puts was at 10,000 SP (5.09mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,830.10 ---- Pivot Point 10,791.10 --- Support --- 10,766.45.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.30 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were V-Guard Industries (1.78), Hero Motocorp (1.54), Adani Power (1.45), Castrol India (1.38) and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals (1.32).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.22 million units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by Yes Bank witnessing a contraction of 0.09 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Infosys witnessed a contraction of 0.62 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 2.90 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract and State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1.04 million units of Open Interest in the December month future contract.