Nifty ends marginal higher on Thursday

S&P CNX -- Nifty wiped out most of early gains in last leg amid worries of high inflation and prospects of more rate cuts impacted traders’ sentiments. India VIX was down by 7.24%. Market made optimistic start with the commerce ministry’s statement that India’s services exports set a new record of $254.4 billion (about Rs 19 lakh crore) in 2021-2022. It said the exports also hit an all-time monthly high of $26.9 billion in March. Further, market added more points, as India’s service sector activity improved further in the month of April, with a surge in incoming new work boosting business activity and supporting a renewed increase in employment. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index surged to 57.9 in April from 53.6 in March. Further, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- also improved to 57.6 in April from 54.3 in March.

Index continued its firm trade, as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said recent trade agreements and geopolitical conditions open up potential market opportunities for India. However, in last leg of trade, market trimmed most of its gains to touch intraday low point, as Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran has said India's growth is expected to be in the range of 7-8.5 per cent given the global uncertainties. Nageswaran stated ‘the range of outcomes is fairly wide. Wider than it could ever be and that makes decision making all the more hazardous. Lots of luck is needed to get it right. Finally, nifty managed to end the session in green zone.

All the sectoral indices ended in red except Auto, Financial Services and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were ABB India, Siemens and Tata Chemicals. On the other hand, the top losers were Deepak Nitrite, Godrej Properties and Intellect Design Arena. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 16900 -17200 calls and 16400 -16700 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 7.24% and reached 20.29. The 50 share Nifty up by 5.05 points or 0.03% to settle at 16,682.65.

Nifty May 2022 futures closed at 16681.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a discount of 1.65 points over spot closing of 16682.65, while Nifty June 2022 futures ended at 16687.95 (LTP), at a premium of 5.30 points over spot closing. Nifty May futures saw an addition of 4,146 units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 2,19,261 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on May 26, 2022 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries May 2022 futures traded at a premium of 11.50 points at 2654.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2643.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 42,049 (Provisional).

HDFC Bank May 2022 futures traded at a discount of 13.45 points at 1335.55 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1349.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,552 (Provisional).

Tata Steel May 2022 futures traded at a premium of 3.75 points at 1291.75 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1288.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,208 (Provisional).

Infosys May 2022 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 points at 1586.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1586.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,458 (Provisional).

SBIN May 2022 futures traded at a discount of 0.80 points at 479.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 480.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,836 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 17000 SP from the May month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 2,225 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 16500 SP from the May month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 3,435 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 17000 SP (57,035 units) and that for Puts was at 16500 SP (81,823 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 16,868.28 -- Pivot Point 16,760.07 -- Support -- 16,574.43.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.45) for May month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Adani Enterprises (0.85), Jindal Steel & Power (0.85), RBL Bank (0.83), JSW Steel (0.80) and Muthoot Finance (0.79).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 8,722 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 5,739 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 572 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract, Tata Steel witnessed a contarction of 1,184 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract and Infosys witnessed an addition of 3,405 units of Open Interest in the May month futures contract (Provisional).