Nifty ends above 17,600; India VIX crashes 4 per cent

Decisive closing above 17,600 has brought positive sentiment among the market participants.   

Market update at 3.30 PM: It has been a magnificent day for Nifty as it continued to surge as the day progresses. It hit a high of 17,639 and stayed firmly in the green. Even the broader indices ended positively. With such bullishness, India VIX has crashed about 4 per cent, taking the tally to a 10 per cent fall in just two trading sessions.  

The top gainers among Nifty stocks were ONGC, Tata Steel, and Infosys while the top losers’ list includes Maruti Suzuki, BPCL & IOC.   

Decisive closing above 17,600 has brought positive sentiment among the market participants.   

Market update at 12 PM: Indices have extended gains while Nifty crossed the 17,600 level. The benchmark index is up by about 0.9 per cent while Sensex has gained over 500 points. Even the broader markets have surged as Nifty Midcap is up by 0.4 per cent while Nifty Smallcap is slightly higher. With such positivity, India VIX has crashed over 2 per cent. 

Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Realty are higher by over 1 per cent each whereas Nifty FMCG & Nifty Pharma are trading flat. 

The 17,500 put option has been aggressively written by the market participants with the hope that Nifty will not fall below this level during the day. The 17,700 continues to hold the highest open interest on the call side. Thus, Nifty is widely expected to close between this range for the weekly expiry. 

Market update at 10.30 AM: Indices are slightly positive after an hour of trade. Nifty is up by 0.2 per cent while Sensex has gained about 120 points.  

The prominent sectors supporting the market include media and metals, whose sectoral indices are up by nearly a per cent each. Meanwhile, auto and FMCG are trading weak. Banks are trading flat after RBI Governor announced that the key rates would remain unchanged.  

India VIX is absolutely flat while a clear trend in the market is yet to emerge.  

Pre-market update: The Asian markets have opened higher amid good global cues. SGX Nifty indicates a 50-point higher opening for Nifty. 

Last night, the US markets ended firmly in the green. NASDAQ rose over 2 per cent while Dow Jones gained more than 300 points. 

On the last trading day, the FIIs sold for about Rs 893 crore while the DIIs bought about Rs 1,793 crore worth of equity; thus, propelling the market higher. 

The key event scheduled for today is the RBI Monetary Policy outcome. The panel is likely to increase the reverse repo rate by 25 bps. Thus, Bank Nifty would be in focus today. 

Crude oil and natural gas are trading lower whereas, gold & silver are trading higher on Thursday morning. 

Today, being the weekly expiry day and RBI MPC outcome, the market is expected to be jittery. The 17,700 holds the highest open interest on the call side while 17,400 has the highest open interest on the put side. Therefore, the market participants expect Nifty to close somewhere in a wide range of 17,400-17,700 for this weekly expiry.