Nifty ends marginally lower; settles below 10,150 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended the session marginally lower on Tuesday and settled below its crucial support level of 10,150. The index traded on a lackluster note throughout the day, as investors remained on sidelines ahead of meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other top officials to take stock of the situation and the discussion for remedial measures to bolster growth. Some concerns also came with reports that India could be forced to cut spending on key infrastructure such as railways and highways as lower-than-expected tax collections and sluggish growth have upset the government’s budget calculations. On the global front, weak trend at other Asian bourses, hobbled by uncertainty as traders waited on a Fed meeting for clues on US monetary policy, too weighted on the domestic sentiments. However, the losses were limited with Moody’s latest report that India is likely to see increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows on the back of reforms such as introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the bankruptcy code.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Auto, Media and Realty stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU Banking, Pharma and Metal stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were GAIL (India), Tata Motors and Indiabulls Real Estate. On the other hand, the top losers were SREI Infrastructure Finance, Infibeam Incorporation and Jaiprakash Associates. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 9900-10500 calls and 9500-10100 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 0.20% and reached 11.46. The 50-share Nifty was down by 5.55 points or 0.05% to settle at 10,147.55.

Nifty September 2017 futures closed at 10168.85 on Tuesday at a premium of 21.30 points over spot closing of 10147.55, while Nifty October 2017 futures ended at 10201.80 at a premium of 54.25 points over spot closing. Nifty September futures saw an addition of 0.04 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.50 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on September 28, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Tata Motors September 2017 futures traded at a discount of 0.80 points at 423.45 compared with spot closing of 424.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,762.

Divi's Laboratories September 2017 futures traded at a premium of 5.60 points at 866.20 compared with spot closing of 860.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,188.

BEML September 2017 futures traded at a premium of 8.55 points at 1940.50 compared with spot closing of 1931.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,492.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries September 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.00 points at 517.50 compared with spot closing of 514.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 11,005.

State Bank of India September 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.25 points at 268.90 compared with spot closing of 267.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 10,571.

Among Nifty calls, 10200 SP from the September month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.18 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10100 SP from the September month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.26 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10200 SP (5.58 mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (5.96 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10174.35--- Pivot Point 10152.15--- Support --- 10125.35.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.50 for September month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were the Ramco Cements (2.23), Oracle Financial Services Software (1.81), Indiabulls Real Estate (1.58), KPIT Technologies (1.21) and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (1.20).

Among most active underlying, Tata Motors  witnessed a contraction of 7.48 million units of Open Interest in the September month futures contract, followed by Divi's Laboratories witnessing an addition of 0.14 million units of Open Interest in the September month contract, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 0.62 million units of Open Interest in the September month contract, BEML witnessed an addition of  0.35 million units of Open Interest in the September month contract and State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 2.58 million units of Open Interest in the September month future contract.