Nifty ends flat on late hour sell-off; reclaims 5,300 mark

Post previous session’s rally, Indian domestic benchmark witnessed consolidation with Nifty pairing most of the intraday gains and closed on flat-to-positive note on the back of negative cues from European markets. Though Nifty traded superbly in the first half following rally in Asian peers while, wiped out all its initial losses as second half of trade turned out to be a profit booking session following weak European counters. Globally, all the Asian equity indices rallied after a slew of solid earnings boosted Wall Street and a successful Spanish bond auction eased worries over Europe’s debt crisis while, European shares eased as the region’s sovereign debt worries and its weaker economic outlook weighed on investors ahead of a German bond sale that could test demand for ultra-low yielding debt. Back home, gains in auto, metal and media were offset by losses in realty, FMCG and banking space.

Earlier, market got off gap-up start regaining 5,300 mark as sentiment buoyed after RBI slashed short-term lending rate by 0.50 percent to 8 percent yesterday and a firming trend on other Asian bourses, following overnight gains on the US market on easing concerns over Europe’s debt crisis. At the same time, the oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and IOC edged higher by over one and a half percent as they have virtually threatened to increase petrol prices by around Rs 9 a litre, asking the government to either cut excise duty on petrol or give them Rs 49 crore a day in compensation. Afterwards, market traded range-bound till noon trade with the decent gains as sentiments were supported by some good quarterly earnings. HDFC, Reliance Industrial Infra and VST Industries all reported stellar Q4 numbers while, HCL Technologies reported 28 percent jump in its Q3 net profit. But, in the second half of trade market started paring its gains continuously till end as investors kept themselves busy in profit booking amid weakness in European counters. Moreover, the market-men remained concerned over the quantum of rate cut by RBI fearing that it would reignite inflationary pressure. In addition, a gauge of consumer price inflation indicated that CPI surged to 9.4% in March as compared to 8.33% in February 2012. Finally, Nifty snapped the day’s trade near its intraday low on the flat note but managed to end a tad over its crucial 5,300 mark. 

Meanwhile, CNX Auto gained the most, up by 1.47% on the NSE sectoral index followed by CNX Metal up by 0.94%, CNX Media up by 0.89% while, CNX Realty and CNX FMCG down by 1.06% and 0.69% remained the top loser in the trade, respectively. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, dipped 1.37% and reached 20.03.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 1.37% at 20.03 as compared to its previous close of at 20.31 on Tuesday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty gain 10.30 points or 0.19% to settle at 5300.00.Nifty April 2012 futures closed at 5,322.70 at a premium of 22.70 points over spot closing of 5,300.00, while Nifty May 2012 futures were at 5,356.85 at a premium of 56.85 points over spot closing. The near month April 2012 derivatives contract will expire on Thursday i.e. April 26, 2012. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 0.65 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 18.41 mn units.

From the most active contract, Tata Motors April 2012 futures were at a discount of 0.75 point at 308.60 compared with spot closing of 309.35. The number of contracts traded was 15,646.

HDIL April 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.50 point at 89.70 compared with spot closing of 89.20. The number of contracts traded was 13,261.

Tata Steel April 2012 futures were at a discount of 1.85 points at 463.90 compared with spot closing of 465.75. The number of contracts traded was 13,986.

Reliance Industries April 2012 futures were at a premium of 2.30 point at 752.30 compared with spot closing of 750.00. The number of contracts traded was 14,086.

ICICI Bank April 2012 futures were at a premium of 7.60 point at 885.60 compared with spot closing of 878.00. The number of contracts traded was 14,819. 

Among Nifty calls, 5400 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.23 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5200 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.60 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 5400 SP (7.47mn) and that for Puts was at 5200 SP (7.83mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5330.18-- Pivot Point 5311.81 -- Support 5281.63.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.20 for April -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were ABG Ship 3.59, Hindustan Zinc 2.20, Patni 2.07, Jindal saw 2.00 and Abirlanuvo 2.00

Among most active underlying, IFCI witnessed contraction of 0.09 million of Open Interest in the April month futures contract followed by RCOM which witnessed contraction of 0.07 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, GVKPIL witnessed an addition of 2.52 million in the April month futures. Also, JP Associates Infra witnessed contraction of 1.60 million in Open Interest in the April month contract. Finally, GMR Infra witnessed an addition of 0.32 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.