Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended with marginal losses on Wednesday. After a negative start, index remained lower till the end of the day, as domestic sentiments remained pessimistic, amid a private report estimating that India's consumer price index (CPI) firmed to 6.9% year-on-year in August, while core inflation likely stood at 6%. Some concerns came as domestic ratings agency Icra said India's current account deficit (CAD) will widen to 5 per cent of the GDP in the September quarter due to higher merchandise trade deficit. The trade deficit has doubled to $28.7 billion for August due to a 36.8 per cent expansion in imports and a 1.2 per cent decline in export earnings.
In the second half of the trading session, market cut most of their losses and traded near neutral line, taking some support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the country's economic growth remains a priority for the government, as inflation has come down to a manageable level. She stated job creation and equitable distribution of wealth remain the other focus areas. Losses got trimmed, amid reports that India’s urban unemployment rate improved remarkably in the April-June quarter. The National Statistical Office revealed that it dipped to 7.6 per cent during the April-June quarter from 12.6 per cent during the corresponding quarter a year ago. It is a clear indication that the country's economy is coming out the grip of Covid-induced slowdown.
Traders were seen piling positions in Media, Pharma and IT sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, Pvt Bank and Bank sector stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Shree Cement, CONCOR and Firstsource Solutions. On the other hand, the top losers were Interglobe Aviation, Tata Motors and City Union Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18200 calls and 15900 -16100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.81% and reached 19.36. The 50 share Nifty down by 31.20 points or 0.18% to settle at 17,624.40.
Nifty September 2022 futures closed at 17655.00 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a premium of 30.60 points over spot closing of 17624.40, while Nifty October 2022 futures ended at 17709.00 (LTP), at a premium of 84.60 points over spot closing. Nifty September futures saw an addition of 10,284 units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 2,66,824 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on September 29, 2022 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, CONCOR September 2022 futures traded at a premium of 0.20 points at 723.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 723.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 31,429 (Provisional).
Ambuja Cement September 2022 futures traded at a premium of 1.60 points at 450.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 448.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,928 (Provisional).
Infosys September 2022 futures traded at a premium of 3.75 points at 1465.75 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1462.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,679 (Provisional).
Bharti Airtel September 2022 futures traded at a discount of 0.80 points at 751.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 752.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,266 (Provisional).
Tata Motors September 2022 futures traded at a premium of 0.90 points at 447.10 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 446.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,738 (Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 17500 SP from the September month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 5,115 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17500 SP from the September month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 3,565 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (43,912 units) and that for Puts was at 16000 SP (85,286 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17,688.67 -- Pivot Point 17,586.48 -- Support -- 17,522.22.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.37) for September month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Adani Enterprises (1.12), Mahindra & Mahindra Fin. Services (1.02), RBL Bank (0.91), Ashok Leyland (0.89) and TVS Motors (0.86).
Among most active underlying, Container Corporation of India witnessed an addition of 3,683 units of Open Interest in the September month futures, Ambuja Cements witnessed an addition of 1,235 units of Open Interest in the September month futures, Adani Ports witnessed a contraction of 1,179 units of Open Interest in the September month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 2,086 units of Open Interest in the September month futures and Bharti Airtel witnessed an addition of 1,532 units of Open Interest in the September month futures (Provisional).
