Nifty posts minor losses; settles above 10,100 mark

Key Indian equity benchmark Nifty ended slightly in red on Tuesday, with losses of only 9.50 points, amid weak global cues. Market traded with caution throughout the session ahead of Reserve Bank of India's two-day policy meeting outcome due on Wednesday. The sentiments also remained dampened after Fitch Ratings in its latest report cut the country's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.7 per cent from the earlier projected 6.9 per cent, saying the rebound was weaker than expected. Some concerns also came with the report that India’s services sector growth lost its momentum in the month of November, as sustained pain from the country’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime triggered significant decline in demand and lower customer turnout. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index fell to 48.5 in the month of November from 51.7 in the month of October. However, the market trimmed most of its initial losses and finally settled only with minor losses supported by SBI research’s latest report that the significant rise in fund raising through the IPO is likely to spur credit growth in some of the sectors.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Banking, Media and Financial Services stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Realty and Auto stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Shriram Transport Finance Company, Jet Airways (India) and Balkrishna Industries. On the other hand, the top losers were JSW Energy, Multi Commodity Exchange of India and BEML. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10200-10700 calls and 9800-10300 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 1.03% and reached 15.00. The 50-share Nifty was down by 9.50 points or 0.09% to settle at 10,118.25.

Nifty December 2017 futures closed at 10146.70 on Tuesday, at a premium of 28.45 points over spot closing of 10118.25, while Nifty January 2018 futures ended at 10179.05, at a premium of 60.80 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 1.09 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.48 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 28, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 3.50 point at 917.80 compared with spot closing of 914.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,770.

State Bank of India December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.10 points at 320.50 compared with spot closing of 320.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,992.

Tata Motors December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 2.50 points at 404.75 compared with spot closing of 402.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,896.

Infosys December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.25 points at 984.55 compared with spot closing of 984.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,789.
 
Biocon December 2017 futures traded at a discount of 3.35 points at 511.20 compared with spot closing of 514.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 12,446.

Among Nifty calls, 10200 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.75 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.01 million open interests.  The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10500 SP (6.22 mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (8.04 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10154.43--- Pivot Point 10111.77--- Support --- 10075.58.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.85 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godfrey Phillips India (5.71), DLF (1.33), Berger Paints India (1.30), IRB Infrastructure Developers (1.30) and Union Bank of India (1.22).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 1.52 million units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing  an addition of 1.57 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Biocon witnessed an addition of 0.09 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of  0.85 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract and Infosys witnessed  an addition of 0.41 million units of Open Interest in the December month future contract.