After a lackluster trade, Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended in positive terrain for ninth consecutive day. Index made a cautious start, as sentiments were downbeat after Minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed that Fed officials see the U.S. economy entering a recession in the wake of the banking crisis. Further, traders also remained concerned as the UN Trade and Development Conference (UNCTAD), in its latest Trade and Development Report Update, has said that India's economic growth is projected to decelerate to 6 per cent in 2023 from 6.6 per cent in 2022.
In late morning session, index extended its losses, as traders got cautious with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India remains concerned about the global economic outlook and geopolitical environment, despite this year's projected growth rate of over six percent for the country's economy. Some concerns also came as credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report said that non-bank finance companies (including housing finance companies) are likely to face increased funding challenges in FY24, which is likely to impact their growth aspirations. However, at the end, index cut all of its losses and managed to close above the neutral line. Traders took some support with a private report stating that exports saw a rise of 6% to $447 billion in FY23, up from $442 billion in FY22.
Traders were seen piling positions in Bank, PSU Bank and Realty, while selling was witnessed in IT, Media and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were AU Small Finance Bank, Godrej Properties and Indusind Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were LTIMindtree, Persistent Systems and Infosys. 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 2.97% and reached 11.91. The 50 share Nifty up by 15.60 points or 0.088% to settle at 17,828.00.
Nifty April 2023 futures closed at 17884.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 56.00 points over spot closing of 17828.00, while Nifty April 2023 futures ended at 17935.00 (LTP), at a premium of 107.00 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 14,728 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,00,648 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 27, 2023. (Provisional)
From the most active contracts, Infosys April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.55 points at 1384.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1383.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 46,597. (Provisional)
Tata Consultancy Services April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 9.75 points at 3201.75 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 3192.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 39,048. (Provisional)
AU Small Finance Bank April 2023 futures traded at a discount of 3.00 points at 673.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 676.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,711. (Provisional)
HDFC Bank April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.60 points at 1700.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1695.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,016. (Provisional)
ICICI Bank April 2023 futures traded at a premium of 2.80 points at 900.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 898.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 31,890. (Provisional)
Among, Nifty calls, 18000 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 2,073 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17800 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 11,467 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (72,744 units) and that for Puts was at 17000 SP (1,11,583 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17870.21 -- Pivot Point 17799.93 -- Support 17757.71.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.26) for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Bajaj Auto (1.16), Godrej Properties (1.13), AU Small Finance Bank (1.13), Siemens (1.11) and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (1.01).
Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 2,517 units of Open Interest in the April month futures, Infosys witnessed an addition of 14,569 units of Open Interest in the April month futures, AU Small Finance Bank witnessed an addition of 4,597 units of Open Interest in the April month futures, Tata Consultancy Services witnessed an addition of 4,022 units of Open Interest in the April month futures and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 7,188 units of Open Interest in the April month futures. (Provisional)
