Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- closed flat with a positive bias on Wednesday. Index made a slightly positive opening, as a private report stated that the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.1% in the current fiscal on the back of steady performance by services, manufacturing and the farm sector. It added that the government investment will play a crucial role in boosting the growth rate. Traders were seen taking a note of Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that the private sector needs to invest more in technology and research and development, and pay the MSME suppliers on time to help the economy.
However, market soon witnessed volatility after the latest Union Health Ministry data showed that India Wednesday recorded 16,047 new coronavirus cases and 54 fatalities including six reconciled by Kerala. With these additions, the country's overall Covid figures rose to 4,41,90,697 cases and 5,26,826 deaths. But, index managed to end in green, as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has initiated measures to promote the rupee as a preferred currency for international trade settlement, which will boost exports.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, Pvt Bank and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Realty and Media. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Chemical, City Union Bank and Indraprastha Gas. On the other hand, the top losers were Balrampur Chini Mills, Samvardhana Motherson International and MRF. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18200 calls and 16900 -17100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 1.47% and reached 19.58. The 50 share Nifty up by 9.65 points or 0.05% to settle at 17,534.75.
Nifty August 2022 futures closed at 17551.75 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a premium of 17 points over spot closing of 17534.75, while Nifty September 2022 futures ended at 17618.25 (LTP), at a premium of 83.50 points over spot closing. Nifty May futures saw an addition of 1,971 units, taking the total open interest (OI) to 2,18,285 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on August 25, 2022 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, Hindalco Industries August 2022 futures traded at a discount of 2.30 points at 437.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 440.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,335 (Provisional).
Tata Chemicals August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 6.15 points at 1078.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1072.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,201 (Provisional).
HDFC Bank August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 3.45 points at 1468.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1465.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,433 (Provisional).
Reliance Industries August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 3.05 points at 2582.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2578.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,128 (Provisional).
Bajaj Finance August 2022 futures traded at a premium of 36.35 points at 7187.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 7151.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,088 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 18200 SP from the August month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 4,159 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17500 SP from the August month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 7,665 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (47,400 units) and that for Puts was at 17000 SP (49,861 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17,586.30 -- Pivot Point 17,514.55 -- Support -- 17,463.00.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.37) for August month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Lupin (1.46), Asian Paints (1.41), ICICI Bank (1.08), Adani Enterprises (1.01) and JSW Steel (0.97).
Among most active underlying, Tata Chemicals witnessed an addition of 2,626 units of Open Interest in the August month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 4,437 units of Open Interest in the August month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 3,898 units of Open Interest in the August month futures, Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 1,809 units of Open Interest in the August month futures and Hindalco Industries witnessed an addition of 3,553 units of Open Interest in the August month futures (Provisional).
