Nifty end choppy session with marginal gain

NSE barometer -- Nifty 50 -- oscillated between positive and negative terrains and ended Tuesday’s trading session on a positive note for straight fourth session in the row, backed by a rally in blue-chip stocks. Index made a slightly negative start, as traders remained cautions with the government data showing that fiscal deficit touched 112.4% of the full-year budget target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of December on account of lower revenue collections. The fiscal deficit or gap between Government's expenditure and revenue, stood at Rs 7.01 lakh crore during April-December of the current financial year which ends in March. Traders remained anxious with Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index declined to a three-month low of 52.2 in January from 53.2 in December, but remained above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction for an eighth month.

Market rebounded from the early losses and started trading in green trajectory, as investors found some support with Union Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan’s statement the country's exports in the current fiscal year are expected to surpass the earlier peak of $314 billion in 2013-14. Some solace also came with S&P Global Ratings’ statement that falling inflation and declining global crude oil prices have created space for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates. The RBI is scheduled to announce its sixth bi-monthly policy review for the fiscal on February 7. However, market trimmed some of its gain in last leg of the session as traders remain concerned with Moody's Investors Service’s statement that fiscal slippage from the budgeted targets for the past two consecutive years and tax cuts and spending ahead of the general elections, is credit negative for India.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Auto and PVT Bank, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Metal and FMCG. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Dewan Housing Finance Corporation, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Shriram Transport Finance Company. On the other hand, the top losers were Reliance Power, Reliance Communications and Suzlon Energy. 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 increased by 0.37% and reached 15.78. The 50-share Nifty was up by 22.10 points 0.20% to settle at 10,934.35.

Nifty February 2019 futures closed at 10951.70 on Tuesday, at a premium of 17.35 points over spot closing of 10934.35, while Nifty March 2019 futures ended at 10982.60, at a premium of 48.25 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw an addition of 0.48 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.76 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 28, 2019.

From the most active contracts, Jubilant Foodworks February 2019 futures traded at a discount of 2.00 points at 1303.00 compared with spot closing of 1305.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,017.

Reliance Industries February 2019 futures traded at a premium of 5.95 points at 1293.95 compared with spot closing of 1288.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,888.

Yes Bank February 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.65 points at 176.50 compared with spot closing of 175.85. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,255.

Reliance Capital February 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.70 points at 153.10 compared with spot closing of 152.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,497.

Punjab National Bank February 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 73.80 compared with spot closing of 73.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,353.

Among Nifty calls, 11,000 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.02million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10,800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.07 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,000 SP (3.35mn) and that for Puts was at 10,700 SP (3.23mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,965.13 ---- Pivot Point 10,925.92 --- Support --- 10,895.13.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.43 for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Page Industries (5.00), TCS (2.52), Shree Cements (2.25), Cipla (1.77) and Ramco Cements (1.71).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.06 million units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, followed by Jubilant Foodworks witnessing a contraction of 0.18 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 3.11 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, Titan Company witnessed an addition of 0.41 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract and ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.61 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract.