Nifty manages to end higher on Wednesday

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended in positive terrain for third consecutive session. Market made a negative start, amid fears of further rate hikes and a prolonged higher rate regime as indicated by the US Federal chief spooked investors. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in his testimony to Congress the US central bank will likely need to hike interest rates more than previously expected. In afternoon session, index continued to trade on lower note, as traders got cautious with a private report stating that like all emerging markets that rely upon the rest of the world for commodities and capital, India has spent the last two years battling the twin challenges posed by more expensive raw materials and a stronger dollar.

However, in the last leg of the session, market cut all of its losses and ended the trading day above the neutral line. Traders took some support with Finance Ministry’s data showing that there has been a rise of 133 per cent in collection of major cess and surcharges levied by the Central government on various products during the five-year period between 2017-18 and 2022-23, as it went up from Rs 2,18,553 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 5,10,549 crore in 2022-23.

Most of the sectorial indices in green except Realty, Healthcare Index, Pharma, Consumer Durables, IT and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Balrampur Chini Mills, Hindustan Aeronautics and Indusind Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Indus Towers, Crompton and Dr. Lal PathLabs. 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 increased by 1.48% and reached 12.45. The 50 share Nifty up by 42.95 points or 0.24% to settle at 17,754.40.

Nifty March 2023 futures closed at 17798.70 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a premium of 44.30 points over spot closing of 17754.40, while Nifty April 2023 futures ended at 17900.00 (LTP), at a premium of 145.60 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 16,251 units, taking the total outstanding open interest (Contracts) to 2,12,058 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 9.00 points at 2048.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2039.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,328. (Provisional)

Indusind Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 4.50 points at 1179.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1174.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,863. (Provisional)
 
Reliance Industries March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.95 points at 2422.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2416.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,323. (Provisional)
 
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 2.70 points at 714.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 711.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,773. (Provisional)
 
ICICI Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 2.25 points at 874.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 872.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,793. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 18000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 2,937 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 4,406 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (59,973 units) and that for Puts was at 17000 SP (1,06,245 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17813.18 -- Pivot Point 17707.72 -- Support -- 17648.93.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.35) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Bank of Baroda (1.07), Canara Bank (1.00), Power Finance Corporation (0.94), Indusind Bank (0.93) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (0.90).

Among most active underlying, Adani Enterprises witnessed an addition of 1,195 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 3,794 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 791 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Indusind Bank witnessed an addition of 2,558 units of Open Interest in the March month futures and Hindustan Aeronautics witnessed an addition of 1,228 units of Open Interest in the March month futures. (Provisional)