Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended lower on last trading day of week, ahead of monthly US jobs report later in the day. Market made a negative start, as sentiments remained down-beat with a private report that retail inflation in India likely eased a bit last month but stayed above the Reserve Bank of India's upper threshold for a second straight month, keeping the central bank on course for further policy tightening. Some concern also came with the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 561.78 crore on March 9.
In afternoon session, index continued to trade in deep red, as investors worried about possible further interest rate hikes. Meanwhile, Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims rose by more than expected in the week ended March 4, 2023. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 211,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 190,000. At the end, index closed lower with 1% losses.
Most of the sectorial indices in red except FMCG and Consumer Durables. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Dixon Technologies (India), GAIL (India) and Balkrishna Industries. On the other hand, the top losers were Polycab India, IndiaMART InterMESH and Delta Corp. 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 5.40% and reached 13.41. The 50 share Nifty down by 176.70 points or 1.00% to settle at 17,412.90.
Nifty March 2023 futures closed at 17449.50 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 36.60 points over spot closing of 17412.90, while Nifty April 2023 futures ended at 17550.05 (LTP), at a premium of 137.15 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 17,861 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 1 2,35,702 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 29, 2023. (Provisional)
From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 7.80 points at 2333.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2326.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,671. (Provisional)
HDFC Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 7.75 points at 1595.85 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1588.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,131. (Provisional)
Adani Enterprises March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 11.80 points at 1906.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1894.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,517. (Provisional)
ICICI Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.85 points at 844.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 842.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,993. (Provisional)
State Bank of India March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 549.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 547.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,920. (Provisional)
Among, Nifty calls, 17500 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 10,107 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17400 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 10,341 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (69,263 units) and that for Puts was at 17000 SP (1,12,358 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17468.15 -- Pivot Point 17396.25 -- Support -- 17341.00.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.24) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Balrampur Chini Mills (0.96), Bajaj Auto (0.90), Bank of Baroda (0.88), Indusind Bank (0.85) and Canara Bank (0.83).
Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 4,858 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 8,270 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 6,620 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Adani Enterprises witnessed an addition of 281 units of Open Interest in the March month futures and Axis Bank witnessed an addition of 3,787units of Open Interest in the March month futures. (Provisional)
