Nifty ends below 7,300 mark

In a yet another turbulent day, the fifty share index Nifty ended lower on Thursday, on the back fresh selling pressure in the blue chips counters amid weak global cues, after a sell-off in Asian stocks that had gained earlier but ended with deep incisions as crude oil prices resumed the downfall. Back home, after getting a gap -up opening, Indian equity benchmark Nifty trimmed its early gains, as investors booking profits at highest levels. Thereafter Market entered into red territory and continued to trade in under pressure. Though, in second half nifty tried hard to move back into the positive territory and even got there but only for a brief period, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India is gradually transforming most of its taxation laws for a greater degree of stability and predictability. He also stressed that the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a major step in this direction. Finally, the market ended with loss of over 32 points.  

The top gainers from the F&O segment were JSW Energy, Axis Bank and IDBI Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services and NMDC. 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 7500 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 7100 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 7700 Call, while 7500 call witnessed considerable OI addition.   

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.73% and reached 20.81. The 50-share Nifty was down by 32.80 points or 0.44% to settle at 7,276.80.   

Nifty January 2016 futures closed 7290.85 on Thursday at a premium of 14.05 points over spot closing of 7,276.80, while Nifty February 2016 futures ended at 7302.70 at a premium of 25.90 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw contraction of 1.25 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.55 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 discount of 0.05 points at 176.15 compared with spot closing of 176.20. The number of contracts traded were 28,392.             

ICICI Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.05 points at 226.65 compared with spot closing of 226.70. The number of contracts traded were 18,307.                      

Axis Bank January 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.10 points at 409.10 compared with spot closing of 409.00. The number of contracts traded were 46,503.                          

Tata Motors January 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.85 points at 329.45 compared with spot closing of 327.60. The number of contracts traded were 16,409.            

Reliance Industries January 2016 futures traded at a premium of 4.85 points at 987.30 compared with spot closing of 982.45. The number of contracts traded were 34,932.  

Among Nifty calls, 7400 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 4.04 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7300 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.10 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7500 SP (5.53 mn) and that for Puts was at 7300 SP (6.18 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7367.00 --- Pivot Point 7308.50 --- Support --- 7218.30.         

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.85 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were United Breweries (2.33), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (1.49), Ultratech Cement (1.25), Wipro (1.10), Hero MotoCorp (1.05) and Tata Consultancy Services (0.99).     

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.54 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by Axis Bank witnessing a contraction of 0.45 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 4.85 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an  addition of 0.09 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 1.34 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.