Nifty manages to close above neutral line

After spending most of the day in red zone, local benchmark -- Nifty -- managed to close the session with marginal gains. Market made a cautious start with industry body FICCI’s statement that the recent rise in smuggling in the northeastern region can be attributed to economic distress insinuated by Covid-19 pandemic. Further, market traded near neutral line, as former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan stated that the negative GDP growth numbers should alarm everyone. Emphasising on the importance of government relief or support in the given scenario, he pointed out that it is ‘meagre’ so far. However, in the last leg of trade, market erased all the losses to close the session above 11350 mark, after Finance Ministry in its Monthly Economic Review for August has said the country is witnessing a V-shaped pattern of recovery as is seen in various high-frequency indicators.  

All of the NSE sectoral indices ended in red except FMCG, IT and Media. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Bharti Infratel, HDFC Life and Vodafone Idea. On the other hand, the top losers were Tata Consumer Products, Manappuram Finance and Mahindra & Mahindra. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,400 - 11,600 calls and 10,900 - 11,100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.44% and reached 21.61. The 50 share Nifty up by 21.20 points or 0.19% to settle at 11,355.05.

Nifty September 2020 futures closed at 11388.65 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 33.60 points over spot closing of 11355.05, while Nifty October 2020 futures ended at 11402.00 (LTP), at a premium of 46.95 points over spot closing. Nifty September futures saw an addition of 4,870 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 1,48,196. The near month derivatives contract will expire on September 24, 2020 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries September 2020 futures traded at a premium of 9.85 points at 2107.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2098.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,687 (Provisional).

Axis Bank September 2020 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 462.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 459.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,996 (Provisional).

Bajaj Finance September 2020 futures traded at a discount of -4.80 points at 3503.10 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 3507.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,346 (Provisional).

ICICI Bank September 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.90 points at 375.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 374.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,286 (Provisional).

SBIN September 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 points at 208.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 208.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,788 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 11500 SP from the September month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 886 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11300 SP from the September month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 22 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11500 SP (26,736 units) and that for Puts was at 11000 SP (37,825 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 11,406.90 -- Pivot Point 11,329.30 -- Support -- 11,277.45.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.25) for September month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Vedanta (1.37), MRF (1.10), JSW Steel (1.09), Jubilant FoodWorks (0.94) and Ramco Cements (0.88).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessing an addition of 1,382 units of Open Interest in the September month contract, followed by Bajaj Finance witnessing an addition of 1,405 units of Open Interest in the September month contract, Axis Bank witnessed an addition of 815 units of Open Interest in the September month contract, Bharti Airtel witnessing an addition of 1,350 units of Open Interest in the September month contract and TCS witnessed an addition of 1,610 units of Open Interest in the September month future contract (Provisional).