Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended on a positive note on Thursday, driven by buying in auto and information technology stocks and signs of fresh foreign fund inflows. After a cautious start, market remained volatile during the whole day, as oil prices surged again on reports of fresh strikes on Iran and Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh avoided giving any rate path guidance after holding rates for a fifth consecutive meeting in a rare 9-3 split vote. However, In the last hour of the session, the market added gains and finally ended over a quarter of a percent higher as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and the US will come into operation as soon as the United States is able to ensure that India gets a comparative advantage over its competitors.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Auto, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Chemicals and Reits & Realty. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Sona BLW Precision Forgings, Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor Company. On the other hand, the top losers were KPIT Technologies, Premier Energies and Prestige Estates Projects. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 23900 - 24100 calls and 23900 - 24100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
