Nifty skids lower for fifth day in a row

The prevailing logjam in Parliament coupled with prospects of a US rate hike and the decline in Metal stocks subdued the Indian equity market sentiments on Tuesday leading to a barometer index Nifty to end session with the loss of about one percent. Selling pressure was seen across the board as all the NSE sectoral indices closed on the negative side with Metal index taking the big hit. On the global front, all the Asian markets ended in red on Tuesday as investors rushed for exit on concerns over the flagging commodity prices and thorny issues in China, were trade data that came in below estimates. European shares too fell in early trade, with Anglo American slumping to a new record low after suspending its dividend and BHP Billiton slipping after a civil lawsuit seeking billion of dollars in damages.

Back home, after getting a weak start, Indian benchmark Nifty showed some strength in early morning trade, however wheel once again turned and index started declining on account sustained foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in other Asian markets. Sentiments remained down-beat due to the logjam in parliament which has dimmed the prospects of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill getting passed during the winter session. Thereafter, the index traded near 7750 mark for most part of the session, but the sharp selling pressure was seen in the final hour of trade, mainly into Metal and oil & gas stocks, which dragged the index to near 3-month low. Shares of oil stocks have declined due to falling crude oil prices and OPEC decision against slashing high output levels. Metal stocks too reeled under selling pressure due to weak Chinese trade data for the month of November. Although some tyre companies showed uptrend in early trade on the report that the government is looking at anti- dumping and anti-subsidy duty investigations on imports of bus and truck radial tyres from China to protect domestic manufacturers, but by the end of the trading session they loses their shine and end in negative territory. Finally, Nifty ended the session with the loss of over half percent over its previous session.

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Just Dial, Bata India and Strides Arcolab. On the other hand, the top losers were Adani Power, Jaiprakash Associates and Indiabulls Real Estate. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 8000-8500 calls and 7500-8000 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7900 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7400 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 8300 Call, while 7800 call witnessed considerable OI addition.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 0.68% and reached 15.97. The 50-share Nifty was down by 63.70 points or 0.82% to settle at 7,701.70. 

Nifty December 2015 futures closed at 7728.60 on Tuesday at a premium of 26.90 points over spot closing of 7,701.70, while Nifty January 2016 futures ended at 7766.35 at a premium of 64.65 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw contraction of 0.08 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.26 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 31, 2015.        

From the most active contracts, SBI December 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 236.75 compared with spot closing of 235.40. The number of contracts traded were 8,245.         

Axis Bank December 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.30 points at 460.40 compared with spot closing of 459.10. The number of contracts traded were 8,552.     

Tata Steel December 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 235.30 compared with spot closing of 233.95. The number of contracts traded were 7,660.        

Tata Motors December 2015 futures traded at a premium of 1.35 points at 403.20 compared with spot closing of 401.85. The number of contracts traded were 12,022.           

Reliance Industries December 2015 futures traded at a premium of 2.30 points at 946.30 compared with spot closing of 940.00. The number of contracts traded were 7,017.     

Among Nifty calls, 8000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.50 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.04 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (6.58 mn) and that for Puts was at 7500 SP (5.56 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7753.48--- Pivot Point 7719.47--- Support --- 7667.68.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.84 for December month contract.  The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were UCO Bank (1.50), Lupin (1.29), KSCL (1.23), STAR (1.20) and HCL Tech (1.16).   

Among most active underlying, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 1.34 million of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by Wockhardt witnessing an addition of 0.01 million of Open Interest in the December month contract; State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 0.30 million of Open Interest in the December month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.01 million of Open Interest in the December month contract and Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.10 million units of Open Interest in the December month's future contract.