Nifty snaps October F&O series with a gain of about a percent

The domestic index S&P CNX Nifty finished the October F&O series with a gain of about 55 points or 1 percent. Today Nifty exhibited consolidation and snapped the session with modest gains as investors remained keen to roll-over their position to fresh month F&O contract on cautious hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will surprise markets by cutting interest rates at its policy review on October 30, 2012. On the global front, Asian shares ended mostly higher on Thursday after US Federal Reserve stated that it will keep its loose monetary policy in place until America's economy comes back on track. Even signs of recovery in China and the United States eased some investor’s worries. Meanwhile, European counters too provided some strength to the domestic markets and were trading in the green at this point of time.

Back home, after making muted opening, key Indian benchmarks started gaining some strength on the back of some better than expected second quarter numbers. Sterlirte Industries, on consolidated basis, posted a growth of 74.66 percent in its net profit after taxes, at Rs 1,742.69 crore for the Q2FY13 as compared to Rs 997.78 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. The sentiments also got some support after M&M registered over 22 percent jump in Q2 consolidated net profit while, Kotak Mahindra Bank reported 16% rise in Q2 consolidated net profit. Positive start from European counters too supported the sentiments and Nifty re-conquered its crucial 5,700 mark. Afterwards, the index traded in the tight-band but, above its psychological 5,700 bastion supported by PSU companies, which went home with good gains after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in its meeting with the top 25 PSU heads, urged them to invest and grow, and set the pace for India’s growth in the process. Gains in public sector oil marketing companies too boosted the traders’ confidence. Stocks of BPCL, HPCL and IOC all edged higher as US crude oil futures slipped to fresh three-month low on October 24, 2012. Finally, Nifty ended the session in the green tad above its important 5,700 mark with marginal gains.

Meanwhile, on NSE sectoral indices, CNX Realty remained the major loser, down 1.61% followed by CNX PSU Bank down 1.03% and CNX Metal down by 0.55% while, CNX Auto gained 0.54% and Bank Nifty up by 0.31% remained the top gainers on the NSE sectoral space. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, declined 1.39% and reached 13.52.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 1.39% at 13.52 as compared to its previous close of at 13.71 on Tuesday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty gained 13.90 points or 0.24% to settle at 5,705.30.

Nifty November 2012 futures closed at 5746.85 on Thursday at a premium of 41.55 points over spot closing of 5,705.30, while Nifty December 2012 futures were at 5780.00 at a premium of 74.70 points over spot closing. Nifty November futures saw an addition of 3.41 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.05 mn units. The near month November 2012 derivatives contract will expire on November 29, 2012.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries November 2012 futures were trading at a premium of 7.45 at 816.60 compared with spot closing of 809.15. The number of contracts traded was 12,992.

Tata Steel November 2012 futures were trading at a premium of 3.10 at 402.55 compared with spot closing of 399.45. The number of contracts traded was 19,075.

ICICI Bank November 2012 futures were at a premium of 6.35 point at 1095.40 compared with spot closing of 1089.05. The number of contracts traded was 24,095.

SBI November 2012 futures were at a premium of 20.95 point at 2218.45 compared with spot closing of 2197.50. The number of contracts traded was 25,455.

Hero MotoCorp November 2012 futures were at a discount of 14.75 point at 1818.25 compared with spot closing of 1833.00. The number of contracts traded was 12,779. 

Among Nifty calls, 5800 SP from the November month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.38 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5700 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.34 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 5800 SP (2.78 mn) and that for Puts was at 5700 SP (2.92 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5720.80 -- Pivot Point 5703.25 -- Support 5687.75.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.02 for November -month contract.The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Oriental Bank 7.00, Tata Communications 5.50, PNB 2.35, Mphasis 2.00 and Idea Cellular 1.93.

Among most active underlying, Suzlon witnessed an addition of 39.76 million of Open Interest in the November month futures contract followed by IFCI which witnessed an addition of 18.62 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile Unitech witnessed an addition of 16.49 million in the November month futures. Also, JP Associates witnessed an addition of 12.34 million in Open Interest in the November month contract. Finally, Reliance Communications witnessed an addition of 7.43 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.