Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Tuesday’s trading session on a higher note, supported by heavy buying in Bank stocks. After making slightly negative start, index altered between red and green, as foreign fund outflows weighed on the sentiments. The provisional data from the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 754.59 crore on February 19. Cautiousness also came in as oil prices hold near 3-week highs on Middle East tensions. However, index managed to trade in green for the most of the part in afternoon session, as investors got some support with Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal’s statement that the present government’s ambition is to make India a fully developed nation by 2047 and all efforts are being made in this direction. Goyal said that the government’s ambition is to increase the current $3.7 trillion economy to be a $30-35 trillion economy by 2047 and to ensure food and energy security of the nation. In last leg of trade, buying got intensified to end session at all-time high.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Financial Services and Bank stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Auto and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Power Grid Corporation of India and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. On the other hand, the top losers were Federal Bank, Hero Motocorp and Biocon. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 22900 - 23100 calls and 21900 - 22100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
