Nifty ends near day's high point; settles above 18,600 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended in positive terrain as consumer price index (CPI) inflation data came in better-than-expected. Market made positive start with marginal gain and soon traded higher as sentiment got boost after CPI based retail inflation eased to an 11-month low of 5.88 per cent in November 2022, mainly due to softening prices of food items. This is the first time in 11 months that the retail inflation print has come within the RBI’s tolerance band of 4 (+/- 2) per cent. The CPI was 6.77 per cent in October 2022, and 4.91 per cent in November last year. Markets gained traction as traders shrugged off data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that India's industrial output, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), contracted by 4 percent in October.

Market continued its northward momentum in later part of the trade to end near intraday high point as trader got support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that Indian Rupee has been strong against every currency. She said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has used foreign exchange reserves that it has to intervene in the market to make sure that the Dollar-Rupee fluctuation does not go too much. Furthermore, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) net sold $33.42 billion in the foreign exchange market in the first six months of current fiscal to defend the rupee from excessive volatility.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except FMCG, Media, Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Communications, Polycab India and Multi Commodity Exchange of India. On the other hand, the top losers were Dalmia Bharat, Dr. Lal PathLabs and Laurus Labs. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 18900 -19100 calls and 17900 -18100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 3.26% and reached 12.88. The 50 share Nifty up by 110.85 points or 0.60% to settle at 18,608.00.

Nifty December 2022 futures closed at 18711.50 (LTP) on Tuesday, at a premium of 103.50 points over spot closing of 18608.00, while Nifty January 2023 futures ended at 18817.00 (LTP), at a premium of 209.00 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 161 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 12,13,974 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 29, 2022. (Provisional)         

From the most active contracts, Infosys December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 1572.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1571.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,826. (Provisional)         

Reliance Industries December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 19.00 points at 2641.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2622.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,669. (Provisional)         

HDFC Bank December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 10.70 points at 1656.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1645.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,732. (Provisional)         

Kotak Mahindra Bank December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 14.90 points at 1883.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1868.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,277. (Provisional)         

Indusind Bank December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 7.10 points at 1239.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1232.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,642. (Provisional)         

Among, Nifty calls, 19000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 2,860 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 18500 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 8,787 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 19000 SP (73,721 units) and that for Puts was at 18000 SP (75,248 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 18653.43 -- Pivot Point 18571.81 -- Support -- 18526.38.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.27) for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Bank of Baroda (1.11), Power Finance Corporation (1.10), Aditya Birla Capital (1.02), Britannia Industries (0.96) and AXIS Bank (0.96).

Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 2,255 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 3,410 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 2,076 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, Kotak Mahindra Bank witnessed an addition of 6,697 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, and Adani Enterprises witnessed an addition of 142 units of Open Interest in the December month futures. (Provisional)