Nifty ends flat paring most of the early gains

The Indian benchmark Nifty on the NSE managed a positive close on Monday, extending the gains of last week, however there were bouts of volatility through the day which dragged the index from very close to touch the levels of 7500 again. There was some concern from the domestic front while the global markets too pared their early gains that impacted the sentiments on the street. There was concern with report that Exports of 15 of the sectors out of the 30 closely monitored by the Commerce Ministry were in the negative zone in the month of December 2015. Also, a poll conducted by global ratings agency Moody's Investor Service showed that market concerns over India's economic exposure to external risks have risen over the past seven months. The short coverings ahead of the F&O January series expiry and selective buying in metal and capital goods supported the index to end in green

On sectoral front on NSE, Nifty Auto, Nifty Consumption, Energy, Infra, Media and PSU Banks ended in red, paring their early gains, while Metal, Pharma, Financial Services and Commodities posted good gains.

The top gainers from the F&O segment for the day were Cairn India up by 5.14%, Tata Steel up by 2.93%, SunPharma up by 2.37%, ICICI Bank up by 1.87% and Ambuja Cements up by 1.81%. On the other hand the top losers were, L&T down by 2.67%, GAIl down by 2.52%, Hero Moto Corp down by 1.99%, Tata Motors down by 1.74% and Adani Ports down by 1.67%.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market's short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.94% and reached 18.26. The 50-share Nifty was up by 13.70 points or 0.18% to settle at 7436.15.   

Nifty January 2016 futures closed at 7435.45 on Monday at a discount of 0.70 points over spot closing of 7436.15, while Nifty February 2016 futures ended at 7443.45 at a premium of 7.30 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw contraction of 3.28 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.20 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 182.90 compared with spot closing of 182.95. The number of contracts traded were 37,091.             

Axis Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 0.55 points at 420.30 compared with spot closing of 420.85. The number of contracts traded were 27,000.                       

Reliance Industries January 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.60 points at 1004.55 compared with spot closing of 1003.95. The number of contracts traded were 26,156.                          

SBI February 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.10 points at 181.85 compared with spot closing of 182.95. The number of contracts traded were 23,370.             

HDFC Bank January 2016 futures traded at a discount of 1.65 points at 1039.40 compared with spot closing of 1041.15. The number of contracts traded were 21,974.         

Among Nifty calls, 7600 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1.20 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7300 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.82 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 7600 SP (5.25 mn) and that for Puts was at 7300 SP (6.42 mn).  The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7475.13 --- Pivot Point 7448.17 --- Support --- 7409.18.         

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.98 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were United Breweries (3.58), Ultratech Cement (1.42), Hero MotoCorp (1.17) JSW Steel (1.15) and Tata Consultancy Services (1.09).     

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 6.72 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by SBI witnessing a contraction of 22.37 million of Open Interest in the January month contract; Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 5.14 million of Open Interest in the January month contract, HDFC Bank  witnessed a contraction of 2.67 million of Open Interest in the January month contract and JSW Steel witnessed a contraction of 4.41 million units of Open Interest in the January month's future contract.