Nifty ends in red after last hour sell-off

After spending most of day in green zone, key equity benchmark --Nifty--closed the trading session 0.90% lower on Thursday. Earlier, market made positive start with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) statement that the stimulus measures taken by India are substantial, but there is more scope for such measures even after considering the limited fiscal space. Index continued its fine-fettle trade till the afternoon session, as sentiments remained upbeat with Niti Aayog’s draft paper titled 'Towards Responsible AI For All' stating that the government is likely to fund specific research projects in responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and introduce ethics of AI into the university curriculum as the new-age technology is expected to boost India's annual growth rate by 1.3 per cent by 2035. However, market failed to extend its gains and entered into negative territory, as Federal Reserve expressed concern that the viral outbreak will act as a drag on the economy and hiring in coming months and that it plans to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate pegged near zero. 

All of the NSE sectoral indices ended in red except Pharma and IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Divi's Laboratories, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. On the other hand, the top losers were Manappuram Finance, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indiabulls Housing Finance. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,300 - 11,600 calls and 10900 - 11100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 0.62 and reached 24.72. The 50 share Nifty down by 100.70 points or 0.90% to settle at 11,102.15.

Nifty August 2020 futures closed at 11084.65 (LTP) on Thursday, at a discount of 17.50 points over spot closing of 11102.15, while Nifty September 2020 futures ended at 11081.00 (LTP), at a discount of 21.15 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw an addition of 3.72 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 11.42 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 27, 2020 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries August 2020 futures traded at a premium of 3.15 points at 2105.05 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2101.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 59,451 (Provisional).

Bharti Airtel August 2020 futures traded at a discount of 1.35 points at 548.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 550.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 39,178 (Provisional).

ICICI Bank August 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 346.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 345.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 38,811 (Provisional).

HDFC August 2020 futures traded at a premium of 8.05 points at 1813.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1804.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,697 (Provisional).

IndusInd Bank August 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.40 points at 522.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 521.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,853 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 11500 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.39 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11000 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.57 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11500 SP (1.80 mn) and that for Puts was at 11000 SP (3.10 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,239.75 -- Pivot Point 11,162.35 – Support -- 11,024.75.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.75) for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Exide Industries (2.37), Page Industries (1.80), Canara Bank (1.52), Godrej Properties (1.40), and Ramco Cements (1.39).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 3.89 million units of Open Interest in the August month futures contract, followed by Bharti Airtel witnessing an addition of 18.57 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories witnessed an addition of 0.67 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 16.66 million units of Open Interest in the August month contract and TCS witnessed an addition of 1.10 million units of Open Interest in the August month future contract (Provisional).