Nifty ends day’s trade on flat note

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended a choppy session just below neutral line. Market made a negative start, as United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2020 report lowered its GDP growth estimate for India to 5.7 percent in the current fiscal (from 7.6 percent forecast in WESP 2019) and lowered its forecast for the next fiscal to 6.6 percent (from 7.4 percent earlier). However, market switched direction and entered into positive zone for little time, as traders were taking support with NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand’s statement that farm sector growth is likely to be higher at 3.1 per cent in the current fiscal compared with 2.9 per cent in 2018-19.

Further, index started seesawing between the green and red territory near neutral line in afternoon session. Traders failed to get relief with report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities (G-Secs) under Open Market Operations (OMO) for Rs 10,000 crore each on January 23, 2020, in wake of the current liquidity and market situation and an assessment of the evolving financial conditions. Finally Nifty ended the lethargic day of trade below 12350 mark.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Auto, FMGC and Media, while selling was witnessed in Bank, Financial services and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Piramal Enterprises, Bharti Airtel and Castrol India. On the other hand, the top losers were Vodafone Idea, Bharti Infratel and IDFC First Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 12250 - 12,700 calls and 11,900 - 12,350 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.39% and reached 14.12. The 50 share Nifty was down by 3.15 points or 0.03% to settle at 12,352.35.

Nifty January 2020 futures closed at 12377.50 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 25.15 points over spot closing of 12352.35, while Nifty February 2020 futures ended at 12418.80 (LTP), at a premium of 66.45 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.60 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 13.99 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 30, 2020 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Bharti Airtel January 2020 futures traded at a discount of 1.20 points at 498.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 499.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 45,347 (Provisional).

Reliance Industries January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 2.30 points at 1583.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1581.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 43,461 (Provisional). 

State Bank of India January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 319.35 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 318.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 37,373 (Provisional).

IndusInd Bank January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 3.70 points at 1354.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1350.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,729 (Provisional).

ICICI Bank January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 2.60 points at 533.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 530.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,611 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 12500 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.001 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 12300 from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.23 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12500 SP (3.02 mn) and that for Puts was at 12000 SP (4.17 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 12,384.73 -- Pivot Point 12,353.07 -- Support -- 12,320.68.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.44 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Escorts (1.14), Balkrishna Industries (1.21), Bharti Airtel (1.18), Shree Cement (1.15) and UltraTech Cement (1.12).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.10 million units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 14.65 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Bharti Airtel witnessed an addition of 10.27 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, IndusInd Bank witnessed an addition of 1.08 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract and Tata Consultancy Services witnessed an addition of 0.62 million units of Open Interest in the January month future contract (Provisional).