Nifty skids lower for second consecutive day

Bears hammered bulls throughout the session giving them no chance to bounce back, taking full control over the market, bears dragged Nifty below its crucial 8,350 mark. The index fell over a percent, dragged down by a 6 percent slump in Infosys after the software services exporter's January-March earnings fell short of expectations. On the global front, Asian markets made a mixed closing on Friday, though some of the indices extended their weekly gains, some others closed with cuts of around half a percent. However, European shares climbed higher in early trade, boosted by encouraging corporate earnings and upbeat economic data.

Back home, the Indian equity benchmark made a positive start buoyed by a firm trend in other Asian markets. Thereafter, the Index pared all its early gains and slipped into red in late morning session as overseas investors continued to cut positions amid lower-than-expected corporate earnings and tax-related worries. Overseas investors sold Indian shares worth Rs 2.76 billion ($43.60 million) on April 23, after they offloaded a net 9.1 billion rupees in the previous session. Sentiments also weighed down as global rating agency Moody’s stated that a growth rate of more than 7.5 percent may not be “sustainable” for India in the present scenario and the country needs to resolve tax issues that are impacting its investment climate. Although, nifty traded in a small range near its crucial 8,350 mark till early afternoon trades, but the selling pressure accentuated in the late afternoon after disappointing March quarter earnings from IT major Infosys. Besides, weakness in the rupee which fell to a fresh three-month low against the dollar, also negatively impacted investor sentiments.  However, some value buying in dying hours helped the index to pare some of its losses, end the session above its crucial 8,300 mark with a cut of 93 points. Traders were seen piling positions in Energy and FMCG stocks, while sharp selling was witnessed in Realty, information technology (IT) and Media sector stocks.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were NMDC, Bharat Forge and ONGC. On the other hand, the top losers were Bosch, Century Textiles & Industries and Jaiprakash Associates. In the index options segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8600-8500 calls and 8400-8300 puts indicating the expected trading range. In today's session, the 8200, 8300 and 8400 Call strikes saw addition of 2.42, 7.73 and 8.46 lakh shares, respectively. On the other hand, 8500, 8400 and 8300 Put strikes saw a contraction of 6.08, 9.81 and 2.25 lakh shares, respectively.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 3.27% and reached 19.10. The 50-share CNX Nifty was down by 93.05 points or 1.11 % to settle at 8,305.25.  Nifty April 2015 futures closed at 8318.80 on Friday at a premium of 13.55 points over spot closing of 8305.25, while Nifty May 2015 futures ended at 8372.05 at a premium of 66.80 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw contraction of 0.82 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.55 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 30, 2015.

From the most active contracts, Infy April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 6.10 points at 2001.30 compared with spot closing of 1,995.20. The number of contracts traded were 90,367.

HDFC Bank April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 0.20 points at 1006.25 compared with spot closing of 1006.45. The number of contracts traded were 36,551.

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industry April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 2.15 points at 949.55 compared with spot closing of 947.40. The number of contracts traded were 30,562.

Tata Steel April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 0.15 points at 370.35 compared with spot closing of 370.50. The number of contracts traded were 30,280.

Axis Bank April 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.80 points at 529.05 compared with spot closing of 527.25. The number of contracts traded were 30,180.

Among Nifty calls, 8500 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.06 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8300 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.22 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (5.14 mn) and that for Puts was at 8,300 SP (5.04 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8387.92--- Pivot Point 8330.63--- Support --- 8247.97.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.78 for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Cairn (1.37), Mcleod Russel India (1.18), MRF (1), Century Textiles & Industries (0.99) and BPCL (0.97). 

Among most active underlying, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.47 million of Open Interest in the April month futures contract, followed by Yes Bank witnessing a contraction of 0.41 million of Open Interest in the April month contract; HDFC Bank witnessed a contraction of 3.53 million of Open Interest in the April month contract, Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.06 million of Open Interest in the April month contract and ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.89 million of Open Interest in the April month's future contract.