Nifty ends in positive terrain on first trading day of 2023

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended in positive terrain on first trading day of 2023 and settled near 18200 mark. Market made a cautious start, as traders got worried, after the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in its latest data report showed that India's unemployment rate rose to 8.30% in December 2022, the highest in 16 months, from 8.00% in the previous month. But soon, index added gains as market participants got support with Finance Ministry’s statement that gross GST revenue receipts in December 2022 totaled nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore, up 15% year-on-year. It mentioned monthly GST revenues more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore for 10 straight months in a row.  Traders also got some support with the data showing that the output of eight core industries increased by 5.4 per cent in November 2022 as against a 3.2 per cent growth in the same month last year on a better show by coal, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity segments.

Market continued its trade in green till the end, as traders got encouragement with Labour Bureau’s statement that retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 5.41 per cent in November 2022 as compared to 6.08 per cent in October 2022 and 4.84 per cent in November 2021 mainly due lower prices of certain food items. Food inflation stood at 4.30 per cent in November 2022 against 6.52 per cent of the previous month and 3.40 per cent during the corresponding month a year ago. Besides, India's manufacturing sector finished 2022 on a solid note with PMI of 57.8 in December, as business conditions improved to the greatest extent in over two years.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except Pharma, Healthcare Index and Consumer Durables. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Steel Authority of India, Hindustan Copper and Power Finance Corporation. On the other hand, the top losers were Page Industries, Dr. Lal PathLabs and Multi Commodity Exchange of India. 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 1.22% and reached 14.69. The 50 share Nifty down by 92.15 points or 0.51% to settle at 18,197.45.

Nifty January 2023 futures closed at 18278.70 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 81.25 points over spot closing of 18197.45, while Nifty February 2023 futures ended at 18357.00 (LTP), at a premium of 159.55 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 8,973 units, taking the total outstanding open interest (Contracts) to 2,19,191 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 25, 2023. (Provisional)   
 
From the most active contracts, Tata Steel January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 0.65 points at 119.75 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 119.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,339. (Provisional)   
 
ICICI Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.50 points at 908.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 902.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,016. (Provisional)   
 
Reliance Industries January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 9.10 points at 2587.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2577.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,093. (Provisional)   
 
Hindalco Industries January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.20 points at 487.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 486.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 11,577. (Provisional)   
 
Tata Motors January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 2.20 points at 397.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 395.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 11,041. (Provisional)   

Among, Nifty calls, 19000 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 10,077 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 18200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 13,763 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 19000 SP (51,153 units) and that for Puts was at 18000 SP (69,670 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 18246.23 -- Pivot Point 18166.36 -- Support -- 18117.58.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.41) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Torrent Pharmaceuticals (1.19), Alkem Laboratories (1.06), Canara Bank (0.99), Marico (0.99), and IPCA Laboratories (0.98).

Among most active underlying, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 6,175 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3,974 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 704 units of Open Interest in the January month futures and Canara Bank witnessed an addition of 425 units of Open Interest in the January month futures. (Provisional)