Nifty gave good performance by surging over five percent on Friday amid positive global cues. Earlier market made an optimistic start after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of setting up of a 'COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force' to decide on relief package for sectors hit by the coronavirus outbreak. The task force, to be headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will look at measures to limit economic hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But market soon entered into negative territory for little time, as Crisil slashed the country’s economic growth forecast by 50 Basis points (bps) to 5.2 percent for fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21) as against earlier forecast of 5.7 percent expansion as the longer Covid-driven shutdowns will further roil the already weak economy. It said the Covid-19 pandemic will leave the economy crippled next fiscal.

However, local barometer gauges wiped off losses to trade again in the positive zone with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s (DGFT) statement that the government has removed import restrictions on certain chemicals including zinc dross; light, heavy, and full range naphtha. It has also allowed flying clubs to freely import aviation gasoline with certain conditions. Further market continued its gaining monument till the end of the session, as the Finance Commission has established an 8-member panel, which will be headed by 15th Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh, to review the fiscal consolidation road map of the both state and central governments. Finally, Nifty ended the day’s trade above 8600 curial level.

All sectoral indices ended in green on NSE. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Bharti Infratel, Jubilant Foodworks and Escorts. On the other hand, the top losers were Yes Bank, Piramal Enterprises and Ashok Leyland. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,700-12,200 calls and 8300 - 8700 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 7.30% and reached 66.90. The 50 share Nifty up by 482.00 points or 5.83% to settle at 8,745.45.

Nifty March 2020 futures closed at 8737.70 (LTP) on Friday, at a discount of 7.75 points over spot closing of 8745.45, while Nifty April 2020 futures ended at 8771.95(LTP), at a premium of 26.50 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 1.10 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.39 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 26, 2020 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, HDFC Bank March 2020 futures traded at a discount of 1.25 points at 880.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 881.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 95,081 (Provisional). 

ICICI Bank March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.60 points at 345.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 344.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 75,189 (Provisional).

Indusind Bank March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.60 points at 441.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 440.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 64,394 (Provisional).

Reliance Industries March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 1.05 points at 1029.05 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1028.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 59,881 (Provisional).

Indiabulls Housing Finance March 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 92.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 92.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 57,190 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 9000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.22 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.96 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12000 SP (2.17 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (2.10 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 9,026.23 -- Pivot Point 8,602.22 -- Support -- 8,321.43.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.05 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Cummins India (1.43), Exide Industries (1.02), Yes Bank (1.02), Siemens (1.00) and PVR (0.99).

Among most active underlying, State Bank Of India witnessed a contraction of 6.38 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing a contraction of 1.05 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 3.30 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 3.79 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract and Bajaj Finance witnessed a contraction of 0.30 million units of Open Interest in the March month future contract (Provisional).