Nifty tumbles below 10,950 mark

Extending bears run for second straight session, NSE gauge -- Nifty50 -- ended Thursday’s trade below its crucial 10,950 level. Market made a cautious start as investors remained wary with the report that India Ratings lowered the country's growth forecast to six-year low of 6.7% for the current fiscal from an earlier estimate of 7.3% on account of slowdown in consumption and moderation in industrial growth among other factors. This would be the third consecutive year of subdued growth. In the second half market pared some of their losses with report that the government relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) rule for foreign single-brand retailers and also permitted foreign investment in contract manufacturing and coal mining to boost the ailing economy.

But selling in last leg of the trade drag market lower with Nifty settling with a cut of around a percent with a private report stating that the Indian economy likely expanded at its slowest pace in more than five years in the April-June quarter, driven by weak investment growth and sluggish demand.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, IT and Pharma, while selling was witnessed in Bank, Financial services and PSU Bank. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Escorts and Piramal Enterprises. On the other hand, the top losers were Reliance Infrastructure, NCC and Yes Bank. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11,500 -11,800 calls and 10,800- 11,100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.44% and reached 16.42.The 50 share Nifty was down by 97.80 points or 0.89% to settle at 10,948.30.

Among, Nifty calls, 11,200 SP from the September month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.48 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11,000 from the September month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.33 million open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 11,700 SP (2.74 mn) and that for Puts was at 11,000 SP (2.37 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance  11,005.47--Pivot Point  10,963.93--Support--10,906.77.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.16 for September month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Bosch (9.67), Ramco Cements (5.40), Century Textile and Industries (2.66), Cummins India (2.52) and Siemens (2.42).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 10.77 million units of Open Interest in the September month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 32.93 million units of Open Interest in the September month contract, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 5.97 million units of Open Interest in the September month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 24.18 million units of Open Interest in the September month contract and Housing Development Finance Corporation witnessed an addition of 4.90 million units of Open Interest in the September month future contract.