Despite previous session’s optimistic performance, Nifty ended sluggish day of trade with cut of around half a percent. Earlier, market made a slightly positive start and soon entered into red terrain, as traders turned pessimistic with the government data showing that foreign direct investment (FDI) into India dipped marginally by 1.4% to $10.67 billion (about Rs 76,800 crore) during October-December period of 2019-20. Traders also shrugged off reports that The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index increased for the fifth successive month in February to 57.5 from 55.5 in January after dipping to a 19-month low in September 2019. Market participants even overlooked Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary’s statement that the government’s target of doubling of farmers' income by the year 2022 will definitely be achieved. He also said that a number of schemes have been launched by the government towards fulfilling this goal.
Final hour of trade witnessed huge volatility where domestic index went into free fall to breach its crucial 11,100 mark as coronavirus cases increased in India. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the number of confirmed cases in India have risen to 28. Sharp recovery in dying hour of trade helped markets to end the day off its intraday low, though the rebound failed to pull Nifty back in green, buy Nifty managed to settle tad above its crucial 11,250 mark.
All the NSE sectoral indices ended in red except IT and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were The Cipla, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Bosch. On the other hand, the top losers were Shriram Transport Finance Company, Yes Bank and Century Textiles & Industries. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11700 -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 decreased by 1.27% and reached 24.22. The 50 share Nifty down by 52.30 points or 0.46% to settle at 11,251.00.
Nifty March 2020 futures closed at 11247.00 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a discount of 4 points over spot closing of 11251.00, while Nifty April 2020 futures ended at 11295.00 (LTP), at a premium of 44.00 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 1.22 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.42 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 26, 2020 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, State Bank of India March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.30 points at 286.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 284.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 50,015 (Provisional).
HDFC Bank March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 4.70 points at 1153.85 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1149.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,059 (Provisional).
ICICI Bank March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 2.00 points at 510.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 508.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,745 (Provisional).
Indiabulls Housing Finance March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.30 points at 283.65 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 283.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,454 (Provisional).
Reliance Industries March 2020 futures traded at a discount of 0.85 points at 1348.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1349.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,428 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 11500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.081 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.42 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12000 SP (2.75 mn) and that for Puts was at 11000 SP (2.94 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,377.68 --- Pivot Point 11,229.92 --- Support --- 11,103.23.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.24) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Cummins India (1.81), Oil India (1.71), Just Dial (1.50), Siemens (1.37) and Piramal Enterprises (1.21).
Among most active underlying, State Bank Of India witnessed an addition of 7.23 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing an addition of 1.04 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Hdfc Bank witnessed an addition of 4.12 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Icici Bank witnessed an addition of 5.18 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract and Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 0.76 million units of Open Interest in the March month future contract (Provisional).
