Nifty finishes in green trajectory; settles above 10,900-mark

Indian benchmark -- Nifty -- wiped off early losses to finish Wednesday’s trading session in green trajectory, as traders sentiment got a lift from strength in the rupee and a sharp decline in global oil prices. Barometer made a negative start as traders remained concerned about S&P Global Ratings’ statement that the increasing involvement of the government in the affairs of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could undermine the hard-fought improvements in the banking system over the past few years. It termed the exit of Urjit Patel as credit negative. Adding to some more pessimism, Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan cautioning that transfer of excess reserve to the government may bring down rating of the central bank. Rating downgrade of the RBI from ‘AAA’ would make borrowing costlier for the central bank and will have implication for the entire economy.

However, market erased all its losses in the last leg of the trading session to enter into positive terrain, as traders started getting support with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that his government wants to ensure that 99 percent things attract sub-18 per cent GST slab, indicating further simplification of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is on the anvil. Besides, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu stated that huge investment opportunities exist in India in various sectors including construction for Turkish companies.

All the sectoral indices ended in green on the NSE except Media, IT and FMCG stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were UBL, Interglobe Aviation and Power Finance Corporation. On the other hand, the top losers were Zee Entertainment Enterprises, ULP and NIIT Technologies. 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 increased by 0.26% and reached 14.57. The 50-share Nifty was up by 20.35 points 0.19% to settle at 10,908.70.

Nifty December 2018 futures closed at 10935.05 on Tuesday, at a premium of 26.35 points over spot closing of 10908.70, while Nifty January 2019 futures ended at 10979.40, at a premium of 70.70 points over spot closing.  Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.19 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.13 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 27, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.95 points at 1139.70 compared with spot closing of 1137.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,890.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.60 points at 434.35 compared with spot closing of 432.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,975.

Yes Bank December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 1.00 points at 179.75 compared with spot closing of 178.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,679.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 3.25 points at 462.95 compared with spot closing of 459.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,541.

HDFC Bank December 2018 futures traded at a premium of 3.95 points at 2142.05 compared with spot closing of 2138.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,694.       

Among Nifty calls, 11000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.03 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10,800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.006 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,000 SP (4.42mn) and that for Puts was at 10,000 SP (5.01mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,943.03 ---- Pivot Point 10,881.07 --- Support --- 10,846.73.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.37 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were V-Guard Industries (1.62), Adani Power (1.45), Power Grid Corporation of India (1.44), Godrej Consumer Products (1.38) and Castrol India (1.36).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.59 million units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by ICICI Bank witnessing an addition of 0.35 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.61 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Infosys witnessed a contraction of 0.48 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract and Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an addition of 0.02 million units of Open Interest in the December month future contract.