After volatile session, Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished on a lower note. Index made a negative start after the US Federal Reserve indicated another rate hike this year post a 25 basis point increase in March meeting. Some cautiousness came in as Fitch Ratings said India has some room to cut capital expenditure in FY24 as there may be pressure on revenue as the buoyancy assumptions in the Union budget may be inflated. But, index cut all of its losses and managed to trade in green in early afternoon session, as traders got some relief with the data put out by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest monthly bulletin showing that transmission of repo rate to banks’ deposit and lending rates seems to be better in an interest rate easing cycle than in the monetary tightening period. Further, industry body PHDCCI has approached the government seeking reintroduction of the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme to facilitate technology upgradation of micro and small enterprises. However, sharp selling was witnessed in the last leg of hours that dragged the index near day’s low point and Nifty ended with losses of 75 points.
Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, Pharma and Healthcare Index, while selling was witnessed in PSU Bank, Realty and Bank. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Coromandel International, Balrampur Chini Mills and ABB India. On the other hand, the top losers were Vedanta, Hindustan Aeronautics and Berger Paints India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18100 calls and 17000 -17200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.14% and reached 14.49. The 50 share Nifty down by 75.00 points or 0.44% to settle at 17,076.90.
Nifty March 2023 futures closed at 17082.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 5.10 points over spot closing of 17076.90, while Nifty April 2023 futures ended at 17176.85 (LTP), at a premium of 99.95 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 12,940 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,44,003 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 0.55 points at 2248.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2247.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,799. (Provisional)
Hindustan Aeronautics March 2023 futures traded at a discount of 7.75 points at 2497.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2504.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,004. (Provisional)
ICICI Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 0.30 points at 854.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 854.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,345. (Provisional)
HDFC Bank March 2023 futures traded at a premium of 3.80 points at 1564.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1561.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,465. (Provisional)
Vedanta March 2023 futures traded at a discount of 0.65 points at 270.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 270.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,834. (Provisional)
Among, Nifty calls, 17200 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 70,845 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17100 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 91,800 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (2,85,532 units) and that for Puts was at 17100 SP (1,38,707 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17173.10 -- Pivot Point 17109.20 -- Support -- 17013.00.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (0.75) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Titan Company (1.24), Multi Commodity Exchange of India (1.11), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (1.07), Bajaj Auto (0.98) and HDFC Life Insurance Company (0.91).
Among most active underlying, Hindustan Aeronautics witnessed an addition of 7,275 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed a contraction of 4,198 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 6,490 units of Open Interest in the March month futures and State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1,874 units of Open Interest in the March month futures.
