Nifty continues northward journey on Thursday

NSE benchmark index -- Nifty -- continued its northward journey on Thursday and ended the day’s trade above 13700 mark. Market made positive start with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government is making efforts to deregulate the economy with an aim to attract greater investments from across the world. He said the government has opened up defence, manufacturing, mining, finance and capital market sectors. Index continued firm trade, as study by the World Economic Forum showed that few economies in the world are ready for long-term prosperity through improved public services, green investments and digitization. The special edition of the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report, which examined how the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis can build productive, sustainable and inclusive economic systems, found that the countries with advanced digital economies, strong social safety nets and robust healthcare systems have managed the impact of the pandemic more effectively. In late afternoon session, market extended its gains, as SBI Research scaled up its projections for the economy, projecting gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 7.4 per cent during the current financial year compared to its earlier forecast of a 10.9 per cent fall.

Traders were seen piling positions in Bank, Pharma and Realty sector while selling was witnessed in Metal, FMGC and IT sector stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Jubilant FoodWorks, Canara Bank and Page Industries. On the other hand, the top losers were SAIL, Bank of Baroda and Mahindra & Mahindra Fin Services. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 13500 - 14,700 calls and 12,900 - 13,500 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.22% and reached 19.16. The 50 share Nifty up by 58.00 points or 0.42% to settle at 13,740.70.

Nifty December 2020 futures closed at 13749.55 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 8.85 points over spot closing of 13740.70, while Nifty January 2021 futures ended at 13791.00 (LTP), at a premium of 50.30 points over spot closing.  Nifty December futures saw an addition of 6,812 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 1,73,377 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 31, 2020 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries December 2020 futures traded at a premium of 7.85 points at 1993.35 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1985.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,563 (Provisional).

Jubilant FoodWorks December 2020 futures traded at a discount of 0.15 points at 2824.85 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2825.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,829 (Provisional).

HDFC December 2020 futures traded at a premium of 5.90 points at 2496.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2490.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,193 (Provisional).

ICICI Bank December 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.90 points at 513.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 511.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,345 (Provisional).

HDFC Bank December 2020 futures traded flat at 1440.00 (LTP) with spot closing of 1440.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,381 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 13800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 261 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 13500 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 9,767 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 14000 SP (25,603 units) and that for Puts was at 13000 SP (60,863 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 13,784.78 -- Pivot Point 13,729.17 -- Support --13,685.08.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.92) for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Asian Paints (1.57), Tata steel (1.17), Bajaj Finance (1.15), SAIL (0.98) and Titan Company (0.94).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 1,297 units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract followed Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 664 units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, Jubilant FoodWorks witnessed an addition of 983 units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, HDFC witnessed an addition of 4,470 units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract and HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 1,422 units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract (Provisional).