Nifty ends higher; infra, metal stocks shine

CNX Nifty snapping four days losing streak, ended higher on Friday led by gains in infra and metal stocks. Investors also preferred to buy after the recent slump in global shares was considered over-done. Further, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers of shares worth Rs 316.23 crore on May 23, 2013, also supported the sentiment. On the global front, Asian markets made a mixed closing. Meanwhile, European markets opened in red on Friday.

Back home, Indian equity benchmark made a positive start after sentiments got some boost from Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that Indian markets should read the situation correctly rather than be influenced by something elsewhere. Investors kept themselves busy in buying beaten down fundamentally strong stocks. Market continued its positive trade, in the second half too on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Some support also came in after India’s largest steel maker by sales -- Tata Steel -- surged as its March-quarter operating profit beat streets expectation. Buying was witnessed in infra, metal, realty and finance stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session with a gain of 16 points.   
 
Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made a mixed closing. CNX Metal up by 1.41%, CNX Infra up by 1.27%, CNX Finance up by 0.92% and CNX Realty up by 0.64% remained the top gainers in the trade. While, CNX Pharma down 0.91%, CNX IT down 0.75%, CNX Media down 0.48%, CNX PSU Bank down 0.37% and CNX PSE down 0.13% remained the losers in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, down by 5.50% and reached 17.70.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 5.50% at 17.70 as compared to its previous close of at 18.73 on Thursday. The 50-share CNX Nifty gained 16.50 points or 0.28% to settle at 5,983.55.

Nifty May 2013 futures closed at 5985.40 on Friday at a premium of 1.85 points over spot closing of 5983.55, while Nifty June 2013 futures ended at 5999.20, at a premium of 15.65 points over spot closing. Nifty May futures saw contraction of 0.73 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 24.20 mn units. The near month May 2013 derivatives contract will expire on May 30, 2013.

From the most active contracts, JP Associates May 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.30 points at 68.25 compared with spot closing of 67.95. The number of contracts traded was 16,137.

DLF May 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.45 points at 212.60 compared with spot closing of 212.15. The number of contracts traded was 22,350.

Tata Motors May 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.05 points at 288.95 compared with spot closing of 288.90. The number of contracts traded was 13,871.

Tata Steel May 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.25 points at 314.10 compared with spot closing of 313.85. The number of contracts traded was 26,366. 

Reliance Industries May 2013 futures were at a premium of 3.40 points at 789.00 compared with spot closing of 785.60. The number of contracts traded was 14,729.

Among Nifty calls, 6,100 SP from the May month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.96million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,900 SP from the May month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 8.36 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6,100 SP (7.92 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,900 SP (8.10mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 6020.3 -- Pivot Point 5978.55 -- Support 5941.8.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.16 for May-month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Bharat Forg 1.78, Siemens 1.39, Kotak Bank 1.34, HUL 1.32 and HDFC 1.29.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 0.24 million of Open Interest in the May month futures contract followed by Jaiprakash Associates which witnessed contraction  of 5.26 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, R com witnessed contraction of 1.35 million in the May month futures. Also, R Power witnessed contraction of 2.89 million in Open Interest in the May month contract. Finally, DLF witnessed contraction of 0.66 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.