Nifty witnesses consolidation amid growth concern

Indian benchmark index -- Nifty -- witnessed consolidation in the end after trading decently in the first half of today’s trade and ended the session on a flat note on Wednesday amid growth concern after the government released the dismal set of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers. Moreover, selling in FMCG, Infra and bank stocks too dampened the sentiments despite a firm trend in the global markets. Both the Asian and European markets were up on hopes that a fresh cash injection of $670 billion by the European Central Bank into the euro zone’s financial system later on Wednesday will help fight the region’s debt crisis.

Earlier, the local market started on a promising note with a gap up opening buoyed by global optimism. The barometer index, NSE Nifty, briefly hit the psychological 5,450 mark in the early trade. The market regained strength in morning trade after paring gains after an initial surge. Volatility ruled the roost as key benchmark trimmed gains to get back to its 5,400 level in mid-morning trade soon after the latest data showed that the Indian economy expanded at the weakest pace in more than two years in Q3 December 2011. The GDP growth of 6.1 percent in the third quarter this fiscal, lowest in more than 2 years due to poor performance of the manufacturing, mining and farm sectors was not in line with the street expectations and dampened the investor sentiment. Post this announcement selling pressure was seen in capital goods, FMCG, banking and IT stocks. Volatility continued in early afternoon trade as key benchmark indices trimmed gains once again after recovering from its crucial 5,400 support level. Afterwards market kept falling and dipped into the red in the mid afternoon trade. The Nifty alternately swung between gains and losses in late trade but, managed to end the session with a modest gain of about 10 points.

On the global front, the US markets closed higher overnight as consumer confidence hit a 12-month high and oil prices fell while, sentiment remained bullish in the Asian region and most of the Asian peers ended the trade in the green on Wednesday. Moreover, all the European counterparts were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time. Back home, CNX Energy remained the major gainer, up 2.36% followed by CNX Metal up 1.48% and CNX PSE up by 1.47% while CNX FMCG and Bank Nifty declined 0.77% and 0.67% respectively on the NSE. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, surged 4.17% and reached 26.93.

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 4.18% at 26.93 as compared to its previous close of at 25.85 on Tuesday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty gain 9.70 points or 0.18% to settle at 5385.20.

Nifty March 2012 futures closed at 5,439.50 at a premium of 54.30 points over spot closing of 5,385.20, while Nifty April 2012 futures were at 5,474.80 at a premium of 89.60 points over spot closing. The near month March 2012 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, March 29, 2012. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.54 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 26.03 mn units.

From the most active contract, Tata Motors March 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.75 point at 272.85 compared with spot closing of 271.10. The number of contracts traded was 13,613.

DLF March 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.20 point at 227.45 compared with spot closing of 226.25. The number of contracts traded was 12,261.

BHEL March 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.35 points at 306.35 compared with spot closing of 305.00. The number of contracts traded was 13,587.

HDIL March 2012 futures were at a premium of 1.80 point at 115.45 compared with spot closing of 113.65. The number of contracts traded was 19,369.

RIL March 2012 futures were at a premium of 12.10 point at 828.00 compared with spot closing of 815.90. The number of contracts traded was 19,135.  

Among Nifty calls, 5600 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.47 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5200 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.27 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 5600 SP (4.28 mn) and that for Puts was at 5200 SP (7.58mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5445.25 -- Pivot Point 5398.75 -- Support 5338.7.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.46 for March -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were ABG Ship 9.00, PNB 2.38, CANBK 2.00, JP POWER 1.88 and S KUMARS YNF 1.86.

Among most active underlying, Suzlon witnessed contraction of 1.04 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract followed by IFCI which witnessed  contraction of 0.55 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile LITL witnessed contraction of 2.56 million in the March month futures. Also, GVKPIL witnessed an addition of 4.53 million in Open Interest in the March month contract. Finally, Tata Motors witnessed contraction of 0.38 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.