Nifty ends in red trajectory

Key equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished the choppy day of trade marginally in red. The index opened in the red terrain, as traders concerned with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath’s statement that while it was anticipated that India’s growth will slow down, the current numbers come as a shocker with a sharp decline in both investment and consumption. Market sentiments remained in lackadaisical mood as investors’ sentiment remain dented with Assocham president Niranjan Hiranandani’s statement that the economy is facing a liquidity problem and demand recession, and it requires measures to lift consumption, including reduction in goods and services tax and personal income tax and improved credit flow, to revive.

In late afternoon session benchmark started falling sharply and touched its intraday low, as some anxiety came with report that as many as 377 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 3.94 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons. However, in the last leg of the trade, the Nifty managed to trim its losses as India's forex reserves continued on the northward trajectory, rising to a new record of $454.492 billion on the back of a $1.07 billion accretion for the week ended December 13.

Most of the the NSE sectoral indices ended in red, except Auto, IT and Financial services. The top gainers from the F&O segment Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Tata Chemicals and Bosch. On the other hand, the top losers were Vodafone Idea, Yes Bank and NBCC (India). In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 12100- 12,500 calls and 11,900 -12,350 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 2.98% and reached 11.95.The 50 share Nifty was down by 9.05 points or 0.0074% to settle at 12,262.75.

Nifty December 2019 futures closed at 12276.85 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 14.10 points over spot closing of 12262.75, while Nifty January 2019 futures ended at 12336.10 (LTP), at a premium of 73.35 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.19 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 12.92 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 26, 2019 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Yes Bank December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.05 points at 49.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 49.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 53,494 (Provisional).

Reliance Industries December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 1573.35 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1570.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 43,678 (Provisional).

Indiabulls Housing Finance December 2019 futures traded at a discount of 0.55 points at 294.75 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 295.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,860 (Provisional).

ICICI Bank December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 0.75 points at 541.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 541.15. The numbers of contracts traded were 34,670 (Provisional).

Housing Development Finance Corporation December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 1.00 points at 2433.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2432.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,735 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 12300 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.68 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 12200 from the December month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.22 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12300 SP (3.15 mn) and that for Puts was at 12000 SP (3.90 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 12,295.52 -- Pivot Point 12,254.38 -- Support -- 12,221.62.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.55 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Shriram Transport Finance Company (1.30), Tata Consultancy Services (1.28), Tata Motors DVR (1.20), Indraprastha Gas (1.18) and Bharat Forge (1.09).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 5.18 million units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing an addition of 3.79 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 17.59 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Axis Bank witnessed an addition of 9.00 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract and Housing Development Finance Corporation witnessed an addition of 5.02 million units of Open Interest in the December month future contract (Provisional).