Nifty ends choppy session with modest gains; ITC, Yes Bank advances

Witnessing a choppy session in the early trade, key equity benchmark -- Nifty -- made a modest recovery in dying hour of the trade, on the back of buying in heavyweights Reliance Industries, ITC and Yes Bank. Nifty made a cautions start with a report that the goods and services tax (GST) collected in January (for December) is seen to be the lowest in the current fiscal. While the average collections during April-December were Rs 96,800 crore a month, the collections in January are around Rs 93,000 crore. Market soon made some recovery from early losses, as traders found some solace with CRISIL Ratings’ report showing that India's growth rate is likely to inch up to 7.3 percent in 2019-20, provided that there are normal rains and a stable political outcome of the general elections. It added that India is expected to clock a growth rate of 7.2 percent in the current financial year, up from 6.7 percent in 2017-18.

Barometer again slipped into negative zone in early afternoon deals, as trades got anxious with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statement that countries like India and China have begun affecting the world economy much more today and that needs to be taken into account for having a relook at the global trade and financial systems. However, market bounced back from the losses in the last leg of the trade, as investors got some relief with the United Nations' World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019 report stating that India's economy is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent during 2018-19 and improve to 7.6 per cent in the next fiscal. It added that growth continues to be underpinned by robust private consumption, a more expansionary fiscal stance and benefits from previous reforms.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, IT and PSU bank, while selling was witnessed in Auto, Pharma and Media. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Strides Yes Bank, InterGlobe Aviation and Infibeam Avenues. On the other hand, the top losers were Bharti Infratel, KPIT Technologies and Ashok Leyland. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,800-11,200 calls and 10,500 -11,000 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 3.59% and reached 17.43. The 50-share Nifty was up by 18.30 points 0.17% to settle at 10,849.80.

Nifty January 2019 futures closed at 10868.60 on Thursday, at a premium of 18.80 points over spot closing of 10849.80, while Nifty February 2019 futures ended at 10901.45, at a premium of 51.65 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 0.02 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 24.34 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 31, 2019.

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank January 2019 futures traded at a discount of 10.00 points at 215.50 compared with spot closing of 225.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 1,02,700.

Reliance Industries January 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 1249.05 compared with spot closing of 1249.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 40,704.

InterGlobe Aviation January 2019 futures traded at a discount of 5.90 points at 1177.75 compared with spot closing of 1183.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,087.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries January 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 424.15 compared with spot closing of 423.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,894.

Bajaj Finance January 2019 futures traded at a discount of 0.05 points at 365.50 compared with spot closing of 365.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,386.

Among Nifty calls, 10,900 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.03 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10,800 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.40 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,000 SP (4.39mn) and that for Puts was at 10,800 SP (3.61mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,878.05 ---- Pivot Point 10,838.35 --- Support --- 10,810.10.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.11 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Interglobe Aviation (1.51), Shree Cement (1.50), Ramco Cements (1.20), Wipro (1.20) and Reliance Industries (1.14).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.43 million units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Yes Bank witnessing an addition of 2.52 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.80 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, ITC witnessed a contraction of 2.59 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract and InterGlobe Aviation witnessed a contraction of 0.37 million units of Open Interest in the January month future contract.