Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended at a fresh closing high on Friday. The start of the day was on a higher note, taking support with Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj’s statement that the government is sticking to the target of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 and emphasis on infrastructure sector and other initiatives taken in Budget 2021-22 are aimed at achieving the goal. The spending on infrastructure has gone up from Rs 4.12 lakh crore to Rs 5.54 lakh crore while on the health sector it has risen to Rs 2.23 lakh crore from Rs 94,000 crore in the Budget Estimate for 2020-21.
Traders were positive, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exuded confidence that the disinvestment calendar announced in the Union Budget will work well. She added the government is confident that revenue generation will improve through this year and it will be bringing in non-tax revenue other than just disinvestments through various routes, including monetisation of assets. Adding more optimism, International Monetary Fund (IMF) welcomed India's Union Budget for focussing on growth and said fiscal policy can and should play an important role in facilitating a strong and inclusive economic recovery.
Index witnessed volatility during trading day but remained higher for the most part of the session, after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to leave benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance, implying rate cuts in the future if need arises to support the economy hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The benchmark repurchase (repo) rate has been left unchanged at 4 per cent, Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the decisions taken by the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
Traders were seen piling up positions in PSU Bank, Pharma and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in Media, Auto and IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were SBIN, Tata Steel and Divi's Laboratories. On the other hand, the top losers were Zee Entertainment, Bandhan Bank and LIC Housing Finance. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 14100 - 15,500 calls and 13,700 - 14,500 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 1.26% and reached 23.41. The 50 share Nifty up by 28.60 points or 0.19% to settle at 14,924.25.
Nifty February 2021 futures closed at 14946.05 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 21.80 points over spot closing of 14924.25, while Nifty March 2021 futures ended at 14983.00 (LTP), at a premium of 58.75 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw an addition of 8,478 units, taking the total open interest (OI) to 1,54,983 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 25, 2021 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, SBIN February 2021 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 points at 396.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 395.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 88,700 (Provisional).
ITC February 2021 futures traded at a discount of 2.35 points at 231.65 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 234.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 46,209 (Provisional).
Reliance Industries February 2021 futures traded at a premium of 11.40 points at 1932.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1920.85. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,411 (Provisional).
ICICI Bank February 2021 futures traded at a premium of 3.00 points at 620.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 617.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,208 (Provisional).
Kotak Mahindra Bank February 2021 futures traded at a discount of 5.40 points at 1983.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1989.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,923 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 15000 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 3,232 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 14000 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 150 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 15000 SP (22,183 units) and that for Puts was at 14000 SP (48,849 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 15,004.35 -- Pivot Point 14,934.55 -- Support -- 14,854.45.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.62) for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on SBIN (1.80), Vedanta (1.19), HDFC Bank (1.11), ICICI Bank (1.09) and UltraTech Cement (1.08).
Among most active underlying, SBIN witnessed an addition of 3,063 units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract followed by Tata Steel witnessed a addition of 1,902 units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, ITC witnessed an addition of 4,288 units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 540 units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract and Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 1,069 units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract (Provisional).
