Nifty finishes session below neutral line on Monday

S&P CNX -- Nifty -- finished the session below its 17100 mark on Monday. Market started day on somber note, as the government data showed that the production of eight infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4.3% in March against 12.6% in the year-ago period. Further, index added more losses, as India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves dipped by $3.27 billion to $600.42 billion for the week ended April 22, registering the seventh straight week of fall, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appears to keep selling dollars to prevent a slide in the value of rupee amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Index continued its weak trade after private report stated that unemployment rate in India rose to 7.83 per cent in April 2022, higher than 7.60 per cent in March, Overall, unemployment hurt urban areas more than the rural areas last month. Urban unemployment rose to 9.22 per cent in April in comparison to 8.28 per cent in March, while rural unemployment fell to 7.18 per cent in comparison to 7.29 per cent in March. However, in last leg of trade, index trimmed most of its losses, as India's manufacturing sector activities witnessed faster growth in April amid quicker increases in production as well as factory orders, and renewed expansion in international sales. Finally, Nifty closed the session in red zone.

Traders were seen piling positions in Bankex, FMGC and Media sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, IT and Pharma sector stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Chemicals, Can Fin Homes and Indusind Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Metropolis Healthcare, Aarti Industries and Dixon Technologies. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18200 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 increased by 4.46% and reached 20.28. The 50 share Nifty down by 33.45 points or 0.20% to settle at 17,069.10.

Nifty May 2022 futures closed at 17080.00 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 10.90 points over spot closing of 17069.10, while Nifty June 2022 futures ended at 17098.00 (LTP), at a premium of 28.90 points over spot closing. Nifty May futures saw an addition of 15,108 units, taking the total open interest (contracts) to 1,91,332 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on May 26, 2022 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Wipro May 2022 futures traded at a premium of 2.50 points at 498.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 495.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,438 (Provisional).

HDFC Bank May 2022 futures traded at a discount of 12.75 points at 1387.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1400.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,754 (Provisional).

Reliance Industries May 2022 futures traded at a premium of 8.05 points at 2788.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2780.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,802 (Provisional).

HDFC May 2022 futures traded at a premium of 5.05 points at 2264.05 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2259.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,149 (Provisional).

Tata Steel May 2022 futures traded at a discount of 5.20 points at 1291.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1297.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,831 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 17500 SP from the May month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 3,965 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17000 SP from the May month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 5,772 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (42,909 units) and that for Puts was at 16000 SP (78,282 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17,135.15 -- Pivot Point 17,026.20 -- Support -- 16,960.15.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.66) for May month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on JSPL (0.96), Adani Enterprises (0.88), ZEEL (0.83), Aarti Industries (0.83) and Alkem Laboratories (0.81).

Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 723 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 1,219 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, Tata Chemicals witnessed an addition of 1,051 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, HDFC witnessed an addition of 4,156 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract and Indusind Bank witnessed an addition of 479 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract (Provisional).