Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished on a higher note for third straight session on Monday. After making a positive start, index soon slipped into red terrain and traded near neutral line, as traders got cautious with the latest public debt management report showing that the government’s total liabilities rose to Rs 150.95 lakh crore in December quarter from Rs 147.19 lakh crore in the three months ended September 2022. Moreover, the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed that the central government’s fiscal deficit touched 82.8 per cent of the full-year target at the end of February. In actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between the expenditure and revenue collection during April-February period stood at Rs 14.53 lakh crore.
In afternoon session, index continued to trade on flat note, ahead of three-day the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting starting from today (April 03) and outcome on April 06. There are expectations that the RBI may go in for 25 basis points hike in benchmark interest rate, probably the last in the current monetary tightening cycle that began in May 2022. However, in last leg of the trade, index made a recovery and ended in positive terrain, amid improving India's manufacturing PMI and heavy buying at Realty and Auto counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. India's manufacturing sector activity improved in the month of March, as growth of factory orders and production quickened to the strongest in three months. According to the report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged to 56.4 in March from 55.3 in February, signaling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in 2023 so far.
Traders were seen piling positions in Auto, PSU Bank and Realty, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, FMCG and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were GMR Airports Infrastructure, Vodafone Idea and Indian Energy Exchange. On the other hand, the top losers were Mahanagar Gas, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18100 calls and 16900 -17050 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.70% and reached 12.59. The 50 share Nifty up by 38.30 points or 0.22% to settle at 17,398.05.
Nifty April 2023 futures closed at 17474.95 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 76.90 points over spot closing of 17398.05, while Nifty May 2023 futures ended at 17549.95 (LTP), at a premium of 151.90 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 2,964 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,31,361 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 27, 2023. (Provisional)
From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 10.95 points at 2342.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2331.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,804. (Provisional)
ICICI Bank April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 4.35 points at 888.85 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 884.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,249. (Provisional)
Adani Enterprises April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 12.00 points at 1730.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1718.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,248. (Provisional)
HDFC Bank April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 9.60 points at 1619.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1609.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,629. (Provisional)
Bandhan Bank April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.05 points at 205.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 204.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,978. (Provisional)
Among, Nifty calls, 17500 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 2,481 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17000 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 3,393 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (67,488 units) and that for Puts was at 17000 SP (1,27,302 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17446.48 -- Pivot Point 17379.61 -- Support -- 17331.18.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.24) for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Siemens (1.22), United Breweries (1.20), Tata Consultancy Services (1.10), Mphasis (1.09) and LIC Housing Finance (1.00).
Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 708 units of Open Interest in the April month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 3,227 units of Open Interest in the April month futures and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 1,422 units of Open Interest in the April month futures .(Provisional)
