Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- crashed like house of card on Thursday, ending the day in negative terrain, as traders remained cautious amid concerns about growth and the outlook for interest rates. Index made a lower start, as sentiments remained down-beat with Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that the performance of the manufacturing sector and growth rate in private consumption expenditure in the December quarter of 2022-23 is appearing ‘depressed’ because of higher base. In afternoon session, index extended its southward journey and touched its day’s low point, amid reports that the government collected Rs 1.50 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in February. The GST collections for February down from Rs 1.58 lakh crore in January, which were the second-highest monthly collection ever under the indirect tax regime which was introduced in July 2017. At the end, index closed in negative terrain and settled below 17,350 mark.
Most of the sectorial indices in red except Realty and Oil & Gas. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Ambuja Cements, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Bharat Heavy Electricals. On the other hand, the top losers were Siemens, Escorts Kubota and Firstsource Solutions. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18100 calls and 16950 -17150 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.19% and reached 12.97. The 50 share Nifty down by 129.00 points or 0.74% to settle at 17,321.90.
Nifty March 2023 futures closed at 17388.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 66.10 points over spot closing of 17321.90, while Nifty April 2023 futures ended at 17489.90 (LTP), at a premium of 168.00 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 16,315 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,46,083 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 29, 2023. (Provisional)
From the most active contracts, Adani Enterprises March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 16.90 points at 1604.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1588.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 1,04,237. (Provisional)
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 3.85 points at 624.35 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 620.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,853. (Provisional)
ICICI Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 3.15 points at 855.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 852.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,419. (Provisional)
Reliance Industries March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 9.60 points at 2339.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2329.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,083. (Provisional)
HDFC Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 10.30 points at 1594.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1583.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,022. (Provisional)
Among, Nifty calls, 17500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 16,791 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17300 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 5,430 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (66,022 units) and that for Puts was at 17000 SP (88,705 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17409.80 -- Pivot Point 17357.90 -- Support -- 17270.00.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.22) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Metropolis Healthcare (1.22), Max Financial Services (1.09), Power Grid Corporation of India (0.94), Bank of Baroda (0.92) and LIC Housing Finance (0.89).
Among most active underlying, Adani Enterprises witnessed an addition of 3,175 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 3,297 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Axis Bank witnessed an addition of 3,071 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 2,413 units of Open Interest in the March month futures and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone witnessed an addition of 1,485 units of Open Interest in the March month futures. (Provisional)
