Nifty ends below crucial 8,650 level

CNX Nifty ended lower for second-straight trading session on emergence of heavy selling in banking, realty and capital goods stocks despite firm global cues. The investors turned cautious on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 457.43 crore on March 18, 2015. On the global front, Asian shares enjoyed their best session in 18 months as investors priced in a later start and a slower pace for future US rate rises, slashing sovereign bond yields from Japan to Australia. Moreover, most of the European markets made a positive opening in the early deals on Thursday.

Back home, buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity indices made a positive start taking cues from a strong rebound on Wall Street overnight as investors reacted to a dovish statement from the Federal Reserve. In the first half, market traded in green as sentiments got a boost with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) bullish outlook for India, which in its interim economic assessment report has said that India is poised to grow 7.7 percent this year and 8 percent in 2016 to become the fastest growing major economy. However, in the late afternoon session, the index pared its early gains and slipped into red on account of selling in frontline counters. Further, the US central bank removed a reference to being 'patient' on rates from its policy statement, opening the door wider for a hike in the next couple of months while sounding a cautious note on the health of the economic recovery also weigh on sentiment. Finally, Nifty ended the session below its crucial 8,650 mark with a cut of over half a percent.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Just Dial, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Lupin. On the other hand, the top losers were Housing Development and Infrastructure, Reliance Communications and Oriental Bank of Commerce. In the index options segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9000-8900 calls and 8500-8400 puts indicating the expected trading range. In today's session, some traders exited from 9000, 8900 and 8800 puts on the back of profit booking. On the other hand, 8600, 8700 and 8800 calls strikes saw addition of 6.71, 7.71 and 4.88 lakh shares, respectively.

Most of the sectoral indices on the NSE settled in the negative territory with CNX PSU Bank loosing the most, ending with a loss of 2.41 present followed Bank Nifty down by 1.76 present and CNX Realty down by 1.58 present, while CNX Pharma up 0.53 present and CNX Metal up by 0.03 present remained the gainers on NSE sectoral space.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.03% and reached 15.19. The 50-share CNX Nifty was down by 51.25 points or 0.59% to settle at 8,634.65. Nifty March 2015 futures closed at 8635.85 on Thursday at a premium of 1.20 points over spot closing of 8634.65, while Nifty April 2015 futures ended at 8708.95 at a premium of 74.30 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw contraction of 0.28 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 23.10 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 26, 2015.

From the most active contracts, State Bank of India March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 0.70 points at 281.90 compared with spot closing of 281.20. The number of contracts traded were 25,286.

ICICI Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.00 points at 330.30 compared with spot closing of 329.30. The number of contracts traded were 26,647.

HDFC Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 4.80 points at 1056.00 compared with spot closing of 1051.20. The number of contracts traded were 29,324.

Reliance Industries March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 3.35 points at 858.05 compared with spot closing of 854.70. The number of contracts traded were 23,259.

Axis Bank March 2015 futures traded at a premium of 5.30 points at 565.00 compared with spot closing of 559.70. The number of contracts traded were 48,820.

Among Nifty calls, 8800 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.48 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.11 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (5.91 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,400 SP (5.04 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8743.68--- Pivot Point 8679.17--- Support --- 8570.13.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.88 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Sun TV (1.19), Ranbaxy (1.06), Sun Pharma (0.98), Just Dial (0.96) and Bharti Airtel (0.93). 

Among most active underlying, Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.16 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 0.35 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.30 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, Larsen & Toubro witnessed a contraction of 0.31 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Yes Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.75 million of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.