Nifty ends choppy day of trade with slender loss

Nifty went through a rollercoaster ride on Wednesday as it turned highly volatile in the second half of the session. The sentiments remained downbeat for most part of the day on growing investor anxiety about a looming U.S. interest rate hike. Moreover, there was some cautiousness on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 748 crore on March 10, 2015. On the global front, most of the Asian markets ended in red, although European markets made positive opening halting the previous session's sell-off ahead of earnings reports from some big corporates.

Back home, the market made a positive start as investors opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks after two sessions of drubbing. Some support also came in with report that India’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed considerably to $8.2 billion or 1.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the quarter ended December 2014 down from $10.1 billion or 2% of GDP on end-September 2014. However, in the second half, market witnessed a selling pressure as traders turn cautious ahead of the release of February CPI and January IIP data, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday. Somber global cues after strong US jobs data, which fanned expectation of Fed hiking interest rates, soon continued to weigh on risk-appetite of participants across the globe for yet another session. However, some value buying in dying hours helped market to pare some of its losses and end the session a tad below its crucial 8,700 mark with a slim cut of 12 points.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Bharti Airtel, Century Textiles & Industries and Hexaware Technologies. On the other hand, the top losers were Adani Power, DLF and HDFC. In the index options segment for March series, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9000-9100 calls and 8500-8400 puts indicating the expected trading range. In today's session, the 8800, 8900 and 9000 Call strikes saw addition of 4.26, 2.69 and 2.94 lakh shares, respectively. On the other hand, 8600, 8500 and 8400 Put strikes saw addition of 3.26, 1.99 and 2.40 lakh shares, respectively.

Most of the sectoral indices on the NSE settled in the negative territory with CNX Metal loosing the most, ending with a loss of 1.69 present followed CNX Pharma down by 0.92 present and CNX PSU Bank down by 0.69 present, while CNX Realty up 0.58 present, CNX Finance up by 0.10% and CNX Auto up by 0.06 present remained the top gainers on NSE sectoral space.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.59% and reached 15.13. The 50-share CNX Nifty was down by 12.10 points or 0.14% to settle at 8,699.95. Nifty March 2015 futures closed at 8752.15 on Wednesday at a premium of 52.20 points over spot closing of 8,699.95, while Nifty April 2015 futures ended at 8821.65 at a premium of 121.70 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.09 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 24.90 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 26, 2015.

From the most active contracts, SBI March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.85 points at 287.30 compared with spot closing of 285.45. The number of contracts traded were 27,629.

ICICI Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 0.60 points at 335.50 compared with spot closing of 334.90. The number of contracts traded were 21,625.

HDFC Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 10.70 points at 1066.60 compared with spot closing of 1,055.90. The number of contracts traded were 16,908.

Reliance Industries March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 7.75 points at 861.25 compared with spot closing of 853.50. The number of contracts traded were 17,728.

Hindalco Industries March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 0.10 points at 131.10 compared with spot closing of 131.00. The number of contracts traded were 17,781.Among Nifty calls, 8900 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.26 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.02 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (5.93 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,500 SP (4.66 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8742.92--- Pivot Point 8712.63--- Support --- 8669.67.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Siemens (1.01), Ranbaxy (0.99), Bharti Airtel (0.98), Sun TV (0.97) and Wockhardt (0.93). 

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 2.55 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Wockhardt witnessing an addition of 0.04 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; Axis Bank witnessed an addition of 1.51 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3.49 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Larsen & Toubro witnessed an addition of 0.41 million of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.