Nifty end in red; holds 11,750 mark

Domestic index S&P CNX Nifty ended the day’s trade in red terrain as market participants chose to take some profits off the table after the significant rise in previous session amid weak global cues. Market made a slightly positive start, as traders took some support with report that investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in domestic capital market rose to Rs 78,110 crore at the end of March, amid positive market sentiments. As per the latest SEBI data, the total value of P-note investments in Indian markets -- equity, debt, and derivatives -- stood at Rs 78,110 crore till March-end. But, market soon pared all of its initial gains to turn red, as traders turned cautious with former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that protectionism does not really help preserve jobs and offers little defence against the job-destroying effects of automation and Artificial Intelligence, asserting that industrial and developing nations cannot afford to ignore the democratic reaction from those left behind by globalisation and technological change.

Market continued weak run also in the afternoon session, as sentiments remained pessimistic with private report indicating that unemployment rate in India has doubled in eight years to 2018 as 50 lakh lost jobs in last two years beginning with demonetisation in November 2016. Some pessimism also spread among the investors with private report stating that the first quarter of 2019 recorded 110 merger and acquisition deals worth $ 12.5 billion (about Rs 86,500 crore), a 33 per cent fall in value terms as against the year-ago period, due to factors such as global economic conditions and uncertainty around Brexit.

All sectoral indices ended in red on NSE. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Reliance Industries, JSW Steel and Tata Motors. On the other hand, the top losers were Jet Airways, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,800-12,200 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 increased by 4.81% and reached 22.73. The 50-share Nifty was down by 34.35 points 0.29% to settle at 11,752.80.

Nifty April 2019 futures closed at 11771.10 on Thursday, at a premium of 18.30 points over spot closing of 11752.80, while Nifty May 2019 futures ended at 11839.70, at a premium of 86.90 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 0.12 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.80 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 25, 2019.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries April 2019 futures traded at a premium of 1.30 points at 1387.35 compared with spot closing of 1386.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 58,740.

Tata Motors April 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 236.75 compared with spot closing of 235.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,665.

Yes Bank April 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 256.05 compared with spot closing of 255.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,969.

InterGlobe Aviation April 2019 futures traded at a premium of 4.80 points at 1559.90 compared with spot closing of 1555.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,673.

Indiabulls Housing Finance April 2019 futures traded at a premium of 5.00 points at 800.50 compared with spot closing of 795.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,569.

Among Nifty calls, 11,800 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.69 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11,750 from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.17 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12,000 SP (3.17mn) and that for Puts was at 11,000 SP (2.86mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,826.47 ---- Pivot Point 11,782.48 --- Support --- 11,708.82.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.29 for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Shree Cement (3.00), Bosch (2.00), TCS (1.19) Bajaj Finserv (1.15) and Maruti Suzuki (1.13).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 2.96 million units of Open Interest in the April month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 2.69 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract, InterGlobe Aviation witnessed an addition of 0.04 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 5.37 million units of Open Interest in the April month contract and Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 0.35 million units of Open Interest in the April month future contract.