Nifty ends lower for fifth consecutive session; closes below 8100 mark

The local benchmark, Nifty pared early gains to end lower for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday as investors largely refrained from making significant moves due to a lack of triggers and rising geopolitical concerns in Turkey, Germany and Switzerland. Sentiments remained dampened with the report that CLSA has cut its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for FY17 by 1.2 percentage points to 6.5 percent and added that the current disruption is unlikely to affect the outlook for FY18. However, losses remained capped with NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand’s statement that despite the impact of demonetisation, growth in agriculture for the current year will still be above 5%, though he pointed that the prevailing cash crunch has hit the growers of perishables more compared to those who grow bulk crops such as paddy and cotton.

Traders were seen piling up positions in IT, Media and FMCG stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU Bank, Pharma and Metal sector stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Consultancy Services, Dabur India and Power Finance Corporation. On the other hand, the top losers were Just Dial, Granules India and Allahabad Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8100-8500 calls and 7800-8200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.02% and reached 14.53. The 50-share Nifty was down by 21.95 points or 0.27% to settle at 8,082.40.

Nifty December 2016 futures closed at 8099.90 on Tuesday at a premium of 17.50 points over spot closing of 8082.40, while Nifty January 2017 futures ended at 8133.10 at a premium of 50.7 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw a contraction of 0.16 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 14.41 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 29, 2016.

From the most active contracts, Bharat Financial Inclusion December 2016 futures traded at a discount of 3.3 points at 582.70 compared with spot closing of 586.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,142.

Aurobindo Pharma December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 674.00 compared with spot closing of 673.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,739.

State Bank of India December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.40 points at 255.45 compared with spot closing of 255.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,848.

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 629.85 compared with spot closing of 627.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 10,361.

Axis Bank December 2016 futures traded at a premium of 0.80 points at 463.20 compared with spot closing of 462.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 9,704.Among Nifty calls, 8200 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.17 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8100 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.11 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 8300 SP (6.06 mn) and that for Puts was at 8000 SP (6.87 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8116.75--- Pivot Point 8089.75--- Support --- 8055.40.             

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.03 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godrej Consumer Products (17.50), DCB Bank (3.19), Colgate-Palmolive (2.35), Indo Count Industries (1.25) and Reliance Industries (1.12).    

Among most active underlying, Bharat Financial Inclusion witnessed an addition of 1.20 million of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 1.49 million of Open Interest in the December month contract, Vedanta witnessed a contraction of 1.89 million of Open Interest in the December month contract, Yes Bank witnessed an addition of 0.22 million of Open Interest in the December month contract and Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 0.60 million units of Open Interest in the November month's future contract.