Snapping four straight sessions of gains, key equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended marginally lower on Friday amid losses in IT and Metal stocks and weak overseas cues. It was a negative start to the markets, as investors remained cautions with a report that the government may be staring at higher-than-projected deficit for the current fiscal with country's direct tax revenue expected to fall short by Rs 60,000 to 70,000 crore over the revised target of Rs 12 lakh crore for FY19. As per the report, the direct tax revenue growth is at 12.2 per cent so far as against revised full year aim of 19.8 per cent. Sentiments remained pessimistic with CARE Ratings’ report stated that India has of late seen a slight revival in the investment cycle, but that is primarily driven by the increased government spending, and not so much by the private sector. There are also concerns such as a sharp rise in number of investment projects dropped midway.
Market further extended losses in the afternoon deals, as sentiment on the street weakened with a report that India’s goods trade surplus with the US actually shrank for a second straight year through 2018. But, the markets managed to cut some losses in last hour of trade as investors got solace with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the country’s goods export will touch $330 billion in 2018-19, which will be the highest ever. He said the country's merchandise exports have seen high growth in the past six years through sector-specific interventions, focused export promotion initiatives, and quick resolution of issues.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, FMCG and Fin service stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Media and Auto. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Suzlon Energy, Just Dial and Allahabad Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Arvind, Tata Motors and Wipro. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,300-11,700 calls and 10,800 -11,200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.31% and reached 14.94. The 50-share Nifty was down by 22.80 points 0.21% to settle at 11,035.40.
Nifty March 2019 futures closed at 11076.05 on Friday, at a premium of 40.65 points over spot closing of 11035.40, while Nifty April 2019 futures ended at 11128.65, at a premium of 93.25 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.02 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 14.59 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 28, 2019.
From the most active contracts, Indiabulls Housing Finance March 2019 futures traded at a premium of 4.40 points at 706.40 compared with spot closing of 702.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,657.
Tata Motors March 2019 futures traded at a premium of 1.65 points at 182.35 compared with spot closing of 180.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,461.
Yes Bank March 2019 futures traded at a premium of 2.00 points at 233.70 compared with spot closing of 231.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,144.
Reliance Industries March 2019 futures traded at a premium of 8.05 points at 1274.95 compared with spot closing of 1266.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,032.
State Bank of India March 2019 futures traded at a premium of 1.10 points at 282.60 compared with spot closing of 281.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,354.
Among Nifty calls, 11,100 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.09 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11,000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.58 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,500 SP (2.26mn) and that for Puts was at 11,000 SP (3.70mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,053.28 ---- Pivot Point 11,031.12 --- Support --- 11,013.23.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.30 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Ramco Cements (2.04), Larsen & Toubro (1.48), Bajaj Finserv (1.44), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (1.33) and Cholamandalam Investment and Fin Co (1.22).
Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 1.43 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 0.36 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 0.46 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.54 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract and Wipro witnessed an addition of 4.51 million units of Open Interest in the March month future contract.
