Nifty ends December F&O series with a cut of 3.76%

The domestic index S&P CNX Nifty finally finished its sluggish run for the December series below its crucial 8,200 level as global cues remained subdued, moreover the index performed choppy throughout the series and closed with a cut of about 320.10 points or 3.76 percent compared to last series. The global markets remained weak throughout the month as sluggish economic data from China coupled with political uncertainty in Greece and a rout in oil prices. Moreover, today market completed the day’s trade with a cut of over a percentage point and breached its crucial 8,200 mark on the back of late hour selling.

A bout of volatility was witnessed in the early trade and key the benchmark turned choppy after opening on a positive note breaching its crucial 8,250 mark. Market extended its southward journey as fresh selling appeared in infra, oil and gas and power stocks. Sentiments also turned pessimistic as Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said that it would be a challenge to restrict the fiscal deficit to 4.1 percent in current fiscal. Furthermore, continuous selling by foreign investors and depreciation in rupee value also weighed on the sentiment. However, market-participants failed to draw any sense of relief from Cabinet’s approval to an executive order to implement coal and insurance reforms. Nifty traded in the tight range near its neutral line but it was in the final hour the index witnessed a steep fall of about 80 points as funds and retail investors offloaded their positions ahead of F&O expiry. Finally, Nifty ended the day’s trade with a cut of over a percentage point near its intraday low.

Many traders rolled over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the December 2014 series to January 2015 series. The December 2014 F&O contracts expire today as the stock markets remain closed on December 25, on account of Christmas. Sectorally, pharma, metals and banking stocks witnessed high rollover of positions while stocks from the cement, infrastructure and power space were witnessing relatively low rolls into the January series.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Jaiprakash Associates, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Unitech. On the other hand, the top losers were GAIL, GMR Infrastructure and Amtek Auto. In the index options segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8300-8400 calls and 8200-8100 puts indicating the expected trading range.

Most of the sectoral indices on the NSE settled in the negative territory with CNX Energy loosing the most, down 1.65% followed by CNX IT down by 1.50% and CNX Pharma down by 1.23% while CNX Realty up by 0.97% and CNX Media up by 0.85% were remained the only losers in the trade.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 7.65% and reached 15.29. The 50-share CNX Nifty declined by 92.90 points or 1.12% to settle at 8,174.10. Nifty January 2015 futures closed at 8277.30 on Wednesday at a premium of 103.20 points over spot closing of 8,174.10, while Nifty February 2015 futures ended at 8328.60 at a premium of 154.50 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 4.91 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.86 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 29, 2015.

From the most active contracts, HDFC Bank January 2015 futures traded at a premium of 13.40 points at 959.90 compared with spot closing of 946.50. The number of contracts traded were 46,363.

Reliance Industries January 2015 futures traded at a premium of 9.90 points at 895.90 compared with spot closing of 886.00. The number of contracts traded were 53,047.

ONGC January 2015 futures traded at a premium of 2.70 points at 348.35 compared with spot closing of 345.65. The number of contracts traded were 29,989.

Reliance Capital January 2015 futures traded at a premium of 5.20 points at 503.60 compared with spot closing of 498.40. The number of contracts traded were 32,544.Among Nifty calls, 8400 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1.72 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8,200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.45 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8400 SP (3.08 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,000 SP (3.93 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8255.25 --- Pivot Point 8205.25 --- Support --- 8124.10.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.92 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (2), Jubilant Foodworks (1.93), Karnataka Bank (1.47), Lupin (1.47) and HDIL (1.46). 

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1.58 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing an addition of 8.96 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; while Infosys witnessed an addition of 2.59 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Reliance Capital witnessed an addition of 5.18 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 13.04 million of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.