Nifty ends below 8800 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the session in red on Tuesday as disappointing macro-economic data, coupled with broadly negative global indices and profit booking, subdued investors’ sentiments. Wholesale inflation shot up to a 30-month high of 5.25% in January as rising global crude oil prices spiked domestic fuel cost, even as food prices moderated. The overall inflation index of the fuel and power segment surged to 18.44% from 8.65% in the previous month. Anxiety among investors increased ahead of Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen's semiannual testimony before Congress. However, losses remained capped with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the rhetoric of protectionism in developed economies and unpredictable global slowdown have not affected India and it is determined to grow with focus on investments.

Traders were seen piling up positions in IT, Financial Services and Banking stocks, while selling was witnessed in Auto, Media and Metal stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Reliance Infrastructure, Godrej Consumer Products and Bharti Airtel. On the other hand, the top losers were Tata Motors DVR, Tata Motors and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 8700-9200 calls and 8000-8800 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 0.80% and reached 13.80. The 50-share Nifty was down by 12.75 points or 0.14% to settle at 8,792.30.

Nifty February 2017 futures closed at 8814.85 on Tuesday at a premium of 22.55 points over spot closing of 8792.30, while Nifty March 2017 futures ended at 8846.80, at a premium of 54.50 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw an addition of 1.03 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 23.35 million (mn) units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 23, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Tata Motors February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 18.90 points at 486.05 compared with spot closing of 467.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,501.

Reliance Industries February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.00 points at 1050.10 compared with spot closing of 1,048.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,154.

State Bank of India February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.50 points at 271.10 compared with spot closing of 269.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,620.

Reliance Infrastructure February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.20 points at 563.20 compared with spot closing of 560.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,465.

Vedanta February 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.15 points at 254.35 compared with spot closing of 254.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,139.

Among Nifty calls, 8800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.11 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 8800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.53 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 9000 SP (7.04 mn) and that for Puts was at 8500 SP (5.85 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 8817.67--- Pivot Point 8795.08--- Support --- 8769.72.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.21 for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Oracle Financial Services Software (2.00), Eicher Motors (1.64), Sun TV Network (1.45), Bharti Airtel (1.37) and Tata Consultancy Services (1.33).

Among most active underlying, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 3.24 million units of Open Interest in the February month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 0.76  million units  of Open Interest in the February month contract, Sun TV Network witnessed an addition of 0.08 million units of Open Interest in the February month contract, Vedanta witnessed a contraction of 0.97 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract and Yes Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.65 million units of Open Interest in the February month future contract.