Nifty finishes marginally in red; slides below 11,950 levels

First day of trade for new F&O series turned out to be a disappointing and NSE gauge -- Nifty 50 -- ended below its crucial 11,950 levels, amid caution ahead of March quarter GDP data. Initially, the Indian benchmark made positive opening, as traders remained optimistic with industry body FICCI's economic outlook survey showed that India's GDP is likely to grow 6.5 per cent in the fourth quarter ended March 2019. FICCI survey has put forth an annual median GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 at 7.1 per cent and the projection for fiscal 2020-21 has been put at 7.2 per cent. Traders took encouragement with a report that India Inc. has welcomed the new term and team of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hoped that it would be able to give new impetus to the economy, which is facing slowdown in several sectors.

However, market wiped out all of their gains in the afternoon deals to enter into negative territory, amid reports that the rupee witnessed high volatility in the forex market following the allocation of key portfolios in the newly elected government. However, the markets managed to trim most of their early losses in dying hour of trade, taking support from NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that a slew of 'big-bang' economic reforms that should please foreign investors are likely to be pursued in the first 100 days of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term. Kumar further said that the reforms will include changes in labour laws, privatisation moves, and creation of land banks for new industrial development.

All sectoral indices ended in red on NSE except IT.The top gainers from the F&O segment were Berger Paints, Ujjivan Financial Services and Godrej Consumer Products. On the other hand, the top losers were NCC, Infibeam Avenues and Jain Irrigation Systems. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 12,400-12,600 calls and 11,200-11,700 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 2.93% and reached 16.06. The 50-share Nifty was down by 23.10 points or 0.19% to settle at 11,922.80.

Nifty June 2019 futures closed at 11916.50 on Friday, at a discount of 6.30 points over spot closing of 11922.80, while Nifty July 2019 futures ended at 11953.45, at a premium of 30.65 points over spot closing. Nifty June futures saw a contraction of 0.59 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.19 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on June 27, 2019.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries June 2019 futures traded at a discount of 0.30 points at 1329.80 compared with spot closing of 1330.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 38,366.

HDFC Bank June 2019 futures traded at a discount of 7.60 points at 2418.40 compared with spot closing of 2426.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,635.

Yes Bank June 2019 futures traded at a discount of 1.65 points at 145.90 compared with spot closing of 147.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,573.

ICICI Bank June 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.95 points at 422.55 compared with spot closing of 421.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,057.

State Bank of India June 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.85 points at 353.35 compared with spot closing of 352.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,832.

Among Nifty calls, 12,000 SP from the June month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.07 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11,900 from the June month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.13 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12,500 SP (1.71 mn) and that for Puts was at 11,500 SP (2.34 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 12,031.55 ---- Pivot Point 11,930.50 --- Support --- 11,821.75.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.47 for June month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Bosch (3.00), Birlasoft (1.81), TCS (1.62), Colgate-Palmolive (1.49) and Berger Paints (1.32).

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.50 million units of Open Interest in the June month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 0.58 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.21 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 0.34 million units of Open Interest in the June month contract and NCC witnessed an addition of 3.10 million units of Open Interest in the June month future contract.