Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended with marginal losses on Thursday. Index made a positive start of the session, as the finance ministry has released the fifth instalment of revenue deficit grant of Rs 7,183 crore to 14 states for the current fiscal (FY23). The states for which Post Devolution Revenue Deficit (PDRD) Grant has been recommended by the 15th Finance Commission during 2022-23 are -- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
But, index slipped into red in late morning deals and remained weak for the most part of the session, as the government data showed that India's foreign direct investment to gross domestic product ratio eased to 2.7% in fiscal year ending March. 31, 2022 from 3.1% in the previous financial year. Sentiments remained negative, as road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the total outstanding debt of state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stood at around Rs 3.49 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022. He noted that the fund required by NHAI for debt servicing in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be Rs 31,282 crore, Rs 31,909 crore and Rs 30,552 crore, respectively.
Last hour recovery witnessed in the market, aided by positive cues from the global markets. Some relief came amid report that with an aim to spur economic activities, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Sanjiv Bajaj has asked the Central government to contemplate reducing the personal income tax rates. He also said the country's underlying growth drivers are strong and the economy would grow in the range of 7.4 per cent to 8.2 per cent in the next fiscal. He noted that ‘putting more money in the pockets of the consumers is of vital importance to revive consumption demand in the economy.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Pharma, IT and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU Bank, Realty and Media. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Zydus Lifesciences, Lupin and IPCA Laboratories. On the other hand, the top losers were Balrampur Chini Mills, Vodafone Idea and Gujarat Gas. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18200 calls and 15450 -16600 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 4.37% and reached 19.25. The 50 share Nifty down by 6.15 points or 0.04% to settle at 17,382.00.
Nifty August 2022 futures closed at 17370.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a discount of 12.00 points over spot closing of 17382.00, while Nifty September 2022 futures ended at 17432.55 (LTP), at a premium of 50.55 points over spot closing. Nifty August futures saw an addition of 10,974 units, taking the total open interest (OI) to 2,07,131 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 25, 2022 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 2570.05 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2570.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,676 (Provisional).
Infosys August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 4.20 points at 1603.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1599.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,688 (Provisional).
Lupin August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 661.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 660.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,890 (Provisional).
SBIN August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 0.55 points at 532.85 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 532.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,835 (Provisional).
HDFC Bank August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 2.70 points at 1432.05 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1429.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,721 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 18000 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 4,428 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 16500 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 3,489 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (43,866 units) and that for Puts was at 16500 SP (48,434 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17,528.05 -- Pivot Point 17,344.65 -- Support -- 17,198.60.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.37) for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Asian Paints (1.34), Lupin (1.31), JSW Steel (0.99), Apollo Tyres (0.97) and Cipla (0.94)
Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 4,365 units of Open Interest in the August month futures, SBIN witnessed a addition of 1,862 units of Open Interest in the August month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 1,675 units of Open Interest in the August month futures, Infosys witnessed an addition of 4,112 units of Open Interest in the August month futures and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 984 units of Open Interest in the August month futures (Provisional).
