In a volatile trading session, Nifty finished Wednesday’s trade on flat note. Market made a cautious start, as Moody’s Investors Service cut its growth forecast for India to 5.3% for 2020 from 5.4% estimated earlier, as it expects the coronavirus outbreak to dampen domestic demand globally. Index soon entered into green zone, as traders took some support with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) statement that it has received Rs 48,856 crore of bids in the fourth long-term reverse repo operation (LTROs) conducted for an amount of Rs 25,000 crore with a 3-year tenor. However, market failed to protect its gains and slipped into red territory, as anxiety spread among the investors with domestic rating agency ICRA in its report said that investors have total bets of over Rs 93,000 crore on the additional tier-I bonds in Indian banks and a complete write-down proposed in the Yes Bank restructuring may lead to risk aversion.
However the market managed to cut losses in afternoon deals to regain its positive terrain, as PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President D K Aggarwal stated that the volatility in the rupee and stock markets is short-lived and primarily driven by the spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID) in many countries. He also said that the markets are expected to stabilise, as the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong enough to withstand the external shocks on the back of robust economic reforms undertaken by the government during the last many years. In last leg of the trade, market trims some gains to end the session on flat note.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Pvt Bank and Fin Service stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU Bank, Realty and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Yes Bank, Vodafone Idea and RBL Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Indiabulls Housing Finance, NCC and GAIL (India). In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11700 -12,200 calls and 9,800 - 10,200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 2.54% and reached 31.58. The 50 share Nifty up by 6.95 points or 0.066% to settle at 10,458.40.
Nifty March 2020 futures closed at 10455.00 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a discount of 3.40 points over spot closing of 10458.40, while Nifty April 2020 futures ended at 10505.70 (LTP), at a premium of 47.30 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 1.32 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.57 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 26, 2020 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 3.55 points at 1155.55 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1152.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 52,501 (Provisional).
State Bank of India March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.85 points at 245.10 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 244.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 48,467 (Provisional).
Indiabulls Housing Finance March 2020 futures traded at a discount of 5.60 points at 182.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 187.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 40,872 (Provisional).
Indusind Bank March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 2.25 points at 847.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 845.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,065 (Provisional).
ICICI BANK March 2020 futures traded at a discount of 0.15 points at 465.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 465.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,634 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 11000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.071 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.35 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12000 SP (2.71 mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (3.55 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,557.67 -- Pivot Point 10,445.83 -- Support -- 10,346.57.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.20) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Cummins India (1.57), Mahindra & Mahindra Fin. Services (1.24), Interglobe Aviation (1.23), Siemens (1.21) and Oil India (1.17).
Among most active underlying, State Bank Of India witnessed an addition of 7.60 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing an addition of 0.54 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3.54 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 0.05 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract and Hdfc Bank witnessed an addition of 1.87 million units of Open Interest in the March month future contract (Provisional).
