Nifty ends lower for third straight session with notable losses

Continuing its losing streak for third straight session, key Indian benchmark -- Nifty -- ended lower on last trading day of the week, amid global trade war concerns and political uncertainties after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formally pulled out of NDA government. After a sluggish start, the index continued its southward journey to close near intraday low, as sentiments got hit with a report that the overall trade deficit widened to $11979.21 million during the month under review as against $9521.73 million in February 2017. The trade deficit during April- February 2017-18 was $143134.73 million as against $97858.73 million in the same period last year. Anxiety also spread among the traders, as India's public debt rose to Rs 66.61 lakh crore at the end of December 2017, representing a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.22 percent. Some cautiousness also came with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations’ (FIEO) statement that the US’ decision to challenge Indian export subsidy schemes at World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an area of grave concern for domestic traders and the government should phase out these incentives. Besides, adding some concerns, the World Bank has observed that the goods and services tax (GST) regime in India is relatively more complex compared with similar taxes on value added across other countries.

All the sectoral indices ended in red on the NSE. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Jaiprakash Associates, Balkrishna Industries and Ajanta Pharma. On the other hand, the top losers were NIIT Technologies, Reliance Infrastructure and IFCI. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 10,500-10,800 calls and 9,800-10,000 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 6.21% and reached 15.22. The 50-share Nifty was down by 165.00 points or 1.59% to settle at 10,195.15.

Nifty March 2018 futures closed at 10232.50 on Friday, at a premium of 37.35 points over spot closing of 10195.15, while Nifty April 2018 futures ended at 10263.65, at a premium of 68.50 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.89 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 23.78 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 28, 2018.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries March 2018 futures traded at a discount of 1.30 points at 902.70 compared with spot closing of 904.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,799.

Tata Steel March 2018 futures traded at a discount of 0.60 points at 601.90 compared with spot closing of 602.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,817.

Punjab National Bank March 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.60 points at 99.30 compared with spot closing of 98.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 19,660.

Tata Consultancy Services March 2018 futures traded at a premium of 12.85 points at 2840.85 compared with spot closing of 2828.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,284.

State Bank of India March 2018 futures traded at a premium of 0.65 points at 253.35 compared with spot closing of 252.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,848.

Among Nifty calls, 10400 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.65 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 10200 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.24 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 10500 SP (5.83mn) and that for Puts was at 10000 SP (4.63mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 10,300.88 ---- Pivot Point 10,240.57 --- Support --- 10134.83.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 0.80 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Allahabad Bank (1.19), Andhra Bank (1.17), DLF (1.05), IndusInd Bank (0.98) and Canara Bank (0.98).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 2.09 million units of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Tata Consultancy Services witnessing a contraction of 0.17 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 0.06 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 2.21 million units of Open Interest in the March month contract and IDBI Bank witnessed an addition of 6.72 million units of Open Interest in the March month future contract.