Nifty ends lower led by IT and FMCG stocks

The fifty share index -- Nifty-- ended lower on Tuesday as investors avoided building large positions in a holiday-shortened week and ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts next Thursday. Sentiments remained down-beat with report that the Finance Ministry has cut its ambitious disinvestment revenue target by 57% to Rs 30,000 crore for the current fiscal year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, taking solace from Wall Street gains and some stability in recently weak crude oil prices. European stocks reversed gains to trade lower despite a recovery in oil prices from multi-year lows.

After getting a weak start, local equity market continued to trade in red till noon deals, thereafter Nifty witnessed some strength as investors got some support with a private report that the Indian economy is likely to witness a ‘slow but sustainable’ recovery and is expected to clock a GDP growth of 7.5 percent this fiscal. Though, a sharp wave of selling, which emerged in the last lag of trade, dragged the Nifty below its crucial 7,800 mark. The sentiment remained subdued on uncertainty over the GST Bill continues following the standoff between the government and the Congress. The winter session of the parliament ends on December 23, 2015. 

The top gainers from the F&O segment were Arvind, Housing Development and Infrastructure and Reliance Communications. On the other hand, the top losers were Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank and ITC. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7800-8300 calls and 7200-7800 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7800 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7650 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 8000 Call, while 7900 call witnessed considerable OI addition.



The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 1.81% and reached 14.48. The 50-share Nifty was down by 48.35 points or 0.62% to settle at 7,786.10. 

Nifty December 2015 futures closed at 7785.10 on Tuesday at a discount of 1.00 point over spot closing of 7,786.10, while Nifty January 2016 futures ended at 7816.75 at a premium of 30.65 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw contraction of 0.10 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.43 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 31, 2015.           

From the most active contracts, Reliance Communications December 2015 futures traded at a discount of 0.20 points at 85.95 compared with spot closing of 86.15. The number of contracts traded were 12,448.

SBI December 2015 futures traded at a discount of 0.20 points at 228.45 compared with spot closing of 228.65. The number of contracts traded were 12,362.       

ICICI Bank December 2015 futures traded at a discount of 0.95 points at 257.50 compared with spot closing of 258.45. The number of contracts traded were 22,166.              

Axis Bank December 2015 futures traded at a premium of 0.45 points at 446.70 compared with spot closing of 446.25. The number of contracts traded were 21,388.               

Tata Steel Industries December 2015 futures traded at a discount of 0.75 points at 256.65 compared with spot closing of 257.40. The number of contracts traded were 8,147.   

Among Nifty calls, 7900 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 6.00 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.51 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (7.60 mn) and that for Puts was at 7500 SP (5.27 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7829.32--- Pivot Point 7803.08--- Support --- 7759.87.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.89 for December month contract.  The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were ZEEL (1.36), Bajaj Finance (1.31), Lupin (1.15), JSW Steel (1.03) and HCL Technologies (1.01).  

Among most active underlying, Reliance Communications witnessed an addition of 0.97 million of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by Axis Bank witnessing an contraction of 4.98 million of Open Interest in the December month contract; ICICI Bank witnessed a contraction of 2.52 million of Open Interest in the December month contract, Reliance Industries  witnessed an contraction of 0.38 million of Open Interest in the December month contract and State Bank of India witnessed a addition of 0.99 million units of Open Interest in the December month's future contract.