Nifty ends choppy day of trade with slender gains

The local benchmark, Nifty consolidated and ended the choppy day of trade on a flat note with positive bias. Although the fifty share index made a strong opening tracking firm global cues, but failed to hold its entire gains post the announcement of Indian manufacturing activity which slowed more than expected to a seven-month low in September. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in green, drawing strength from overnight gains in global equities markets following their weakest quarter in four years, while twin surveys showing persistent weakness in China's manufacturing sector were taken in stride. Further, European shares rose in early trade as a rebound in mining stocks and gains in the automotive sector lifted the region's markets back up following the end of a bruising third quarter.

Back home, Indian equity index nifty started the new month on optimistic note on the back of Tuesday's monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), supportive Asian markets and strengthening rupee value. However, the upward momentum lost its steam after Indian manufacturing activity slowed more than expected to a seven-month low in September due to softening demand and output. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by Markit, fell to 51.2 in September from 52.3 in August and against predictions of 52.  Market, for rest of the session, see-saw around the neutral line as investors turned jittery over the report that the monsoon season ended on Wednesday with a 14% deficit, making it the weakest monsoon since 2009. In terms of average countrywide rainfall during the season (June-September), this year was the third lowest since 1979, the other acutely deficient year being 2002. Furthermore, the rating agency Fitch Ratings has lowered India’s GDP growth estimate for the current fiscal to 7.5 percent from 7.8 percent on average monsoon but said the country is poised to grow at 8 percent next fiscal on reform push.  Finally, Nifty ended the session slightly in the positive terrain with a gain of just two points. Traders were seen piling position in Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and TECK stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Auto and Power sector stocks.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Yes Bank, Crompton Greaves and Steel Authority of India. On the other hand, the top losers were Amtek Auto, Mcleod Russel India and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 8000-8300 calls and 7400-7600 puts. In today's session, the 8000, 8100 and 8200 Call strikes saw addition of 7.08, 4.81 and 4.77 lakh shares, respectively. On the other hand, 8000, 7900 and 7800 Put strikes saw addition of 3.99, 2.43 and 3.02 lakh shares, respectively.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 1.98% and reached 19.23. The 50-share CNX Nifty was up by 2 points or 0.03% to settle at 7,950.90.

Among Nifty calls, 8200 SP from the September month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.47 million open interests.  Among Nifty puts, 7800 SP from the September month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.30 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (4.62 mn) and that for Puts was at 7800 SP (3.91 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7995.88 --- Pivot Point 7963.27 --- Support --- 7918.28.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.09 for October month contract.  The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Bata India (1.48), Lupin (1.29), Indraprastha Gas (1.19), Amtek Auto (1.17) and SAIL (1.15).   

Among most active underlying, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an addition of 0.16 million of Open Interest in the September month futures contract, followed by HCL Technologies witnessing an addition of 1.43 million of Open Interest in the September month contract; IDFC witnessed an addition of 0.62 million of Open Interest in the September month contract, Infosys witnessed an addition of 0.33 million of Open Interest in the September month contract and Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.04 million units of Open Interest in the September month's future contract.