Nifty ends last session of 2019 below 12200 mark

Local equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished last session of calendar year 2019 in red territory with cut of over half a percent. After opening in red territory, the index continued its sluggish trade throughout the session, as investors got wary with credit rating agency ICRA stating that muted economic growth, lower working capital requirements and risk aversion among lenders have compressed the incremental credit growth in current financial year (April 2019 to March 2020). Investors failed to draw any sense of relief with Secretary in the DPIIT Guruprasad Mohapatra’s statement that enthused by a record foreign investment inflow, India is optimistic of continuing to be one of the world's favourite FDI destinations in 2020 on the back of the Modi government's liberalised norms and a significant jump in the ease of doing business ranking.

In the second half of trading session, market continued its bearish mood, as sentiment dented with private report that the government might breach the fiscal deficit target this financial year amid drop in the revenue mobilisation and expected additional expenditure by the government. Market witnessed sharp losses in the last leg, as sentiment on the street weakened after India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that the aggregate fiscal deficit of states will touch 3 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) in FY20 against the budgeted figure of 2.6 per cent.

Most of the the NSE sectoral indices ended in red, except Metal and Realty. The top gainers from the F&O segment Power Finance Corporation, Coal India and NTPC. On the other hand, the top losers were Piramal Enterprises, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Tech Mahindra. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 12250 - 12,700 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 increased by 6.00% and reached 11.66.The 50 share Nifty was down by 87.40 points or 0.71% to settle at 12,168.45.

Nifty January 2020 futures closed at 12248.90 (LTP) on Tuesday, at a premium of 80.45 points over spot closing of 12168.45, while Nifty February 2020 futures ended at 12293.90 (LTP), at a premium of 125.45 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.63 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 12.74 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 30, 2020 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Indiabulls Housing Finance January 2020 futures traded at a discount of 3.15 points at 309.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 312.55. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,581 (Provisional).

Reliance Industries January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 11.90 points at 1527.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1516.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,675 (Provisional).

State Bank of India January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 2.50 points at 336.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 333.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 15,388 (Provisional).

Axis Bank January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 5.05 points at 757.55 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 752.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,398 (Provisional).

Tata Motors January 2020 futures traded at a premium of 0.80 points at 185.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 184.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 13,836 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 12300 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.27 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 12200 from the January month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.16 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12500 SP (2.20 mn) and that for Puts was at 12000 SP (3.46 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 12,226.43 -- Pivot Point 12,189.12 --Support --12,131.13.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.16 for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (1.66), UltraTech Cement (1.36), Just Dial (1.13), Tata Consultancy Services (1.06) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (1.03).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 0.80 million units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, followed by State Bank of India witnessing a contraction of 0.31 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Axis Bank witnessed a contraction of 0.39 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract, Tata Motors witnessed a contraction of 0.02 million units of Open Interest in the January month contract and Infosys witnessed an addition of 2.48 million units of Open Interest in the January month future contract (Provisional).