Nifty ends in red; posts losses of around half a percent

Indian equity benchmark Nifty settled in red terrain on Wednesday, posting losses of around half a percent, on the back of weak macro economic data. The index started the day on a negative note as retail inflation jumped to 15-month high of 4.88% in the month of November 2017, as compared to 3.63% during the corresponding period last year and 3.58% in the month of October 2017. Besides, India’s Industrial production growth hit a three-month low of 2.2% in the month of October 2017, as compared to 4.2% growth in October 2016. However, the market managed to reverse its losses and entered into positive territory, following firm Asian markets. Some support came with Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg’s statement that infrastructure sector is expected to attract $12-13 billion investment through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). Traders also took some support with private survey report, stating that India is the third most optimistic nation in hiring intentions as 22 percent of employers are expected to add more staff in the next three months. It further said that workforce gains were expected across all seven industry sectors monitored and in all four regions. However, at the end of trading session, the index closed in red as investors remained concerned after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) scaled down its current fiscal year gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India to 6.7% from prior estimate of 7%, citing tepid economic growth in the first half, demonetisation and transitory challenges of GST.

All the sectoral indices ended in red on the NSE except Media. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Sun TV Network, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals and Shree Cements. On the other hand, the top losers were Muthoot Finance, Century Textiles & Industries and BEML. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10200-10700 calls and 9700-10300 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 4.47% and reached 15.94. The 50-share Nifty was down by 47.20 points or 0.46% to settle at 10,192.95.

Nifty December 2017 futures closed at 10215.20 on Wednesday, at a premium of 22.25 points over spot closing of 10192.95, while Nifty January 2018 futures ended at 10245.80, at a premium of 52.85 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.08 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 21.45 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 28, 2017.

From the most active contracts, Vedanta December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.05 point at 285.05 compared with spot closing of 284.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,016.

Sun TV Network December 2017 futures traded at a discount of 1.35 points at 917.65 compared with spot closing of 919.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,816.

Tata Steel December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.10 points at 684.10 compared with spot closing of 683.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,378.

State Bank of India December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 313.85 compared with spot closing of 313.35. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,236.
 
Century Textiles & Industries December 2017 futures traded at a premium of 1.80 points at 1327.80 compared with spot closing of 1326.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 11,874.

Among Nifty calls, 10300 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with a contraction of 0.19 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10200 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 10500 SP (6.34 mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (8.56 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10269.72--- Pivot Point 10219.78--- Support --- 10143.02.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.98 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Godrej Consumer Products (2.94), Marico (1.83), JSW Energy (1.30), Berger Paints India (1.23) and DLF (1.19).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed a contraction of 0.37 million units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing  a contraction of 1.77 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed a contraction of 0.05 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Sun TV Network witnessed an addition of  0.06 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract and Tata Steel witnessed  an addition of 0.27 million units of Open Interest in the December month future contract.