Nifty hovers around 8,350 ahead of May F&O expiry

Markets have started the session on a flat note with positive bias aided by global cues.

Caution prevails on the bourses as investors remain wary ahead of today’s May Futures & Options (F&O) expiry.

At 9:27am, the Sensex was at 27,606, higher by 42 points or 0.2% and the Nifty was at 8,346, up 11 points.

Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.3-0.4%. The market breadth is positive, with 773 advances against 399 declines on the BSE. Further, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 934.98 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data.

"In options segment, FIIs were net sellers of Rs 146 crore with fall in open interest. PCR-OI decreased further with rise in implied volatility suggesting buying in call options. We saw good amount of buildup in 8350 call options which may be long positions, followed by unwinding in 8500 & 8600 strikes. Whereas in put options 8250-8300 strikes added decent amount of open interest, while unwinding was visible 8400-8500 put options. Maximum buildup in current series in seen in 8500 call and 8300 put options," said a morning note from Angel Broking.

According to analysts an SMC Global, the Nifty is is likely to move in a range of 8,250 on declines and 8,400 on advances in today's session.

RESULTS CALENDAR

Coal India, BPCL, Bajaj Electrical, Bank of India, Crompton Greaves, Hindalco Inds, ONGC, Power Grid and NMDC will declare their Q4 results today.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares edged up on Thursday on vague hopes of a rescue deal for Greece while the dollar was at the helm in currency markets on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise rates later this year.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1%, with South Korean shares leading the gain with a rise of 0.5%.

The dollar retained its strength sparked after remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen last Friday that she expected the central bank to raise rates this year as the US economy was on course to bounce back from a sluggish first quarter.

The US currency hit an eight-year high against the yen on Wednesday, rising to 124.09 yen, not far from its 2007 peak of 124.14. It last stood at 123.73 yen.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Oil & Gas and Consumer Durable indices have gained by almost 1% each. Apart from metal, all the sectoral indices are trading in positive zone.

The top gainers on the Sensex are ONGC, Tata Motors, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Hero Moto and HDFC.

ONGC has gained almost 2% ahead of its quarterly results today.

Tata Motors has closed the revenue gap with Reliance Industries (RIL). While RIL remains the country’s largest private sector company by revenue (including other income), Tata Motors topped the chart by core revenue (net sales) in the fourth quarter ended March.

Projecting a "tremendous" potential for Infosys to grow and lead, its CEO and Managing Director Vishal Sikka has said that the management's mission is to prepare the company for realising the aspirational goal of achieving USD 20 billion revenue by 2020. Infosys is up over 1%.

On the losing side, GAIL is the top Sensex loser, down almost 2%. The company reported a lower-than-expected net profit at Rs 511 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 (Q4) due to poor performance from the petrochemicals business.  

Hindalco has slipped over 1% ahead of its quarterly results today. HUL, TCS, Dr Reddy’s Labs, SBI and NTPC are other notable losers.