Nifty ends lower on global growth woes

The fifty stock index - Nifty - ended at fresh 52-week closing lows on Wednesday after slump in crude oil prices and weak growth from China renewed fears of a global growth slowdown. Sentiment remained under pressure from the beginning of trade on report that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year.  Further, falling rupee and selling pressure in heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and State Bank of India further dampened the market sentiments.  Moreover, Sentiment remained weak as foreign investors continued to sell domestic equities. After getting a gap down opening, Nifty extended its loss and breached its psychological 7250 mark. However, some buying was witnessed in last half-hour of trades that helped the market to end above 7300 levels. On the global front, Asian markets ended in red, as sliding oil prices heightened investor concern that the global growth outlook is worsening. The European markets joining the sell-off too made a weak start, with major indices losing 2-3 percent in early deals

The top gainers from the F&O segment were JSW Steel, NCC and Container Corporation of India.  On the other hand, the top losers were Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vedanta and JSW Energy. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7300-8200 calls and 6800-7700 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7400 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 6800 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7600 Call, while 7300 call witnessed considerable OI addition.  

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility increased by 13.75% and reached 20.96. The 50-share Nifty was down by 125.80 points or 1.69% to settle at 7,309.30.   

Nifty January 2016 futures closed 7306.95 on Wednesday at a discount of 2.35 points over spot closing of 7,309.30, while Nifty February 2016 futures ended at 7323.25 at a premium of 13.95 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw contraction of 0.01 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.80 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 28, 2016.                

From the most active contracts, SBI January 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.35 points at 173.90 compared with spot closing of 173.55. The number of contracts traded were 26,344.            

ICICI Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 2.45 points at 223.95 compared with spot closing of 226.40. The number of contracts traded were 12,909.                      

Axis Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 4.35 points at 387.65 compared with spot closing of 392.00. The number of contracts traded were 25,066.                         

Reliance Industries January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.95 points at 1007.20 compared with spot closing of 1,009.15. The number of contracts traded were 44,353.            

HDFC Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.95 points at 1016.55 compared with spot closing of 1,018.50. The number of contracts traded were 12,475.     

Among Nifty calls, 7400 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1.13 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.59 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8000 SP (5.08 mn) and that for Puts was at 7300 SP (6.07 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7439.63 --- Pivot Point 7340.57 --- Support --- 7210.23.         

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.87 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were United Breweries (2.44), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (1.58), Hero MotoCorp (1.04), Tata Consultancy Services (0.99) and Wipro (0.97).     Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.34 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition  of 1.28 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 1.87 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Infosys witnessed a contraction of 0.74 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and Reliance Infrastructure witnessed a contraction of 0.81 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.