Nifty ends lower for third straight day

The fifty stock index -- Nifty ended lower on Thursday as Rail budget failed to cheer markets and as weak crude prices continued to weigh on global sentiment. Investors remained cautious ahead of the fiscal budget due next week. Sentiment remained downbeat with private survey stating that optimism about the overall state of the economy came down in 2015, with households listing unemployment, corruption and rising inflation as major areas of concern. On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday, as oil prices ended a brief overnight rally and Chinese shares slumped on fears of tighter liquidity and the cooling economy ahead of the G20 meeting in Shanghai on Friday and Saturday. European markets were trading higher with bank and commodity shares catching a break from recent declines, moves that put regional benchmark in line for its first rise in three sessions.

Back home, after getting a flat-to-positive opening, benchmark traded in a tight range near neutral line, altering between positive and negative territory, for the most part of day, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of the February derivative F&O expiry. However, sharp selling was witnessed in the last leg of hour that dragged the market intraday low. Finally Nifty ended the session with loss of over 48 points. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Container Corporation of India and Power Finance Corporation. On the other hand, the top losers were Castrol India, Jindal Steel & Power and Crompton Greaves. In the index options segment, maximum OI was being seen in the 7000-8000 calls and 6600-7200 puts. In today's session, while the traders preferred to exit 7000 put, heavy buildup was seen in the 6950 put. On the other hand, traders exited from 6900 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 0.91% and reached 22.74. The 50-share Nifty was down by 48.10 points or 0.69% to settle at 6,970.60.   

Nifty March 2016 futures closed 7001.10 on Thursday at a premium of 30.50 points over spot closing of 6,970.60, while Nifty April 2016 futures ended at 7032.65 at a premium of 62.05 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw addition of 4.49 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.66 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 31, 2016.                    

From the most active contracts, SBI March 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.45 points at 152.45 compared with spot closing of 152.00. The number of contracts traded were 21,164.                      

ICICI Bank March 2016 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 184.25 compared with spot closing of 182.75. The number of contracts traded were 25,135.            

Axis Bank March 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 380.50 compared with spot closing of 380.00. The number of contracts traded were 25,083.                                                

Larsen & Toubro March 2016 futures traded at a premium of 3.00 points at 1091.00 compared with spot closing of 1,088.00. The number of contracts traded were 22,377. 

Among Nifty calls, 7000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 2.51 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 7000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 3.10 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls  was at 7500 SP (8.31 mn) and that for Puts was at 6900 SP (5.21 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 7016.07 --- Pivot Point 6988.73 --- Support --- 6943.27.            

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.93 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Indian Overseas Bank (6.00), Jain Irrigation Systems (4.33), Divis Laboratories (3.75), Container Corporation of India (3.50) and CESC (2.00).  

Among most active underlying, Crompton Greaves witnessed a contraction of 0.80 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 10.74 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 8.89 million of Open Interest in the March month contract, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 3.54 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and Larsen & Toubro witnessed a contraction of 2.99 million units of Open Interest in the March month's future contract.