The local benchmark -- Nifty continued its strength to strength trading on Thursday and finished the day’s trade with gains of above one and half a percent tracking gains from the global markets which rebounded amid a brief drop in oil prices, and on the outcome of Assembly Elections in five key states. Market made optimistic start, as Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said the venture capitalists have played a pivotal role in India's startup story and the economic growth of the country. Addressing the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association's (IVCA) Conclave, he said they have been driving innovation and bringing new ideas to the fore. Further, market added more points after private report stated that India and Canada are set to hold talks during March 10-13 to further strengthen the bilateral ties and discuss economic partnership, including a free trade agreement between both nations.
But, in late afternoon session, market trimmed some of its gains, as India Ratings and Research’s (Ind-Ra) report that the country's current account deficit (CAD) is likely to widen to a 13-quarter high of $23.6 billion or 2.8 per cent of GDP in October-December 2021-22 (Q3FY22) as against a deficit of $9.6 billion (1.3 per cent of GDP) in Q2 FY22, due to higher commodity prices following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In Q3 FY21, the deficit was $2.2 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP). Finally, Nifty closed the session above 16550 mark.
Most of the sectoral indices ended in green except IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were ASTRAL, MCX and HUL. On the other hand, the top losers were GAIL, Gujrat Gas and Coforge. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 16900 -17100 calls and 15900 -16200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 6.86% and reached 25.58. The 50 share Nifty up by 249.55 points or 1.53% to settle at 16,594.90.
Nifty March 2022 futures closed at 16566.35 (LTP) on Thursday, at a discount of 28.55 points over spot closing of 16594.90, while Nifty April 2022 futures ended at 16615.70 (LTP), at a premium of 20.80 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 1,289 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,58,560 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 31, 2022 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, Tata Steel March 2022 futures traded at a premium of 6.15 points at 1315.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1309.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 44,199 (Provisional).
Reliance Industries March 2022 futures traded at a premium of 5.85 points at 2392.85 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2387.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 39,677 (Provisional).
ICICI Bank March 2022 futures traded at a premium of 2.20 points at 677.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 675.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 39,405 (Provisional).
Infosys March 2022 futures traded at a premium of 7.20 points at 1829.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1822.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,720 (Provisional).
Coforge March 2022 futures traded at a premium of 20.15 points at 4254.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 4234.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,863 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 17000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 339 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 16500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 13,805 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 17000 SP (43,066 units) and that for Puts was at 16000 SP (79,721 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 16,752.17 -- Pivot Point 16,600.03 -- Support -- 16,442.77.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.44) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Berger Paints (0.95), Ramco Cements (0.89), Adani Enterprises (0.86), ZEEL (0.88) and REC (0.82).
Among most active underlying, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3,832 units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 661 units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 9,681 units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 4,425 units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract and HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 1,526 units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract (Provisional).
