Nifty ends below 5,700 mark on global weakness

Erasing the previous session’s gains, S&P CNX Nifty ended the session below its crucial 5,700 level with a cut of over half a percent on heavy selling in metal, realty and infra. Weakness in global markets too weighed down the sentiments as most of the Asian counters shut shop in the red as investors booked some profit on the last day of the week after long rally fuelled by upbeat data out of China and rising hopes for the future of the euro-zone. European markets too traded in the negative in early deals as investors adopted cautious approach waiting for the outcome of the European Council summit that concludes in Brussels later in the day.

Back home, Indian benchmark opened with a small downside gap and traded in a small range near its crucial 5,700 mark till morning trade as sentiments got bashed after provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Indian stocks on October 18, 2012. FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 68.87 crore on Thursday. The domestic market extended its downfall as European counters opened in red while, selling in Aviation sector too dampened the sentiment and the index declined below its crucial 5,700 mark. Stocks like Spicejet, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines declined as the number of passengers carried by air carriers declined 0.9% to 438.39 lakh during January-September 2012 over January-September 2011. Some amount of pessimism also came in from money markets as rupee fell to a fresh one-month low near 54 versus its previous close of 53.42 on the back of heavy dollar buying by oil firms, the largest buyers in the domestic currency market. However, the losses remain capped as shares of companies engaged in gems and jewellery business rallied on back of heavy volumes in otherwise weak market on hopes of higher demand in festive season. Shree Ganesh Jewellery House, Gitanajli Gems, Titan Industries, Tribuhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ), Thangamayil Jewellery and Renaissance Jewellery rallied up to 10 percent. Finally, Nifty ended the session below its 5,700 mark with a cut of over half a percent.

Meanwhile, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE settled in the negative territory with CNX Metal losing the most, ending with a cut of 1.32% followed by CNX Infra down by 1.09% and CNX Realty down by 0.99% while, CNX FMCG up 0.79% remained the lone gainer on NSE sectoral space. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, declined 1.49% and reached 14.54.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 1.49% at 14.54 from its previous close of 14.76 on Thursday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty lost 34.45 points or 0.60% to settle at 5,684.25

Nifty October 2012 futures closed at 5688.30 on Friday at a premium of 4.05 points over spot closing of 5,684.25, while Nifty November 2012 futures were at 5720.25 at a premium of 36.00 points over spot closing. Nifty October futures saw contraction of 2.05 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.20 mn units. The near month October 2012 derivatives contract will expire on October 25, 2012.

From the most active contracts, ITC October 2012 futures were trading at a premium of 0.60 at 297.65 compared with spot closing of 297.05. The number of contracts traded was 23,026.

Tata Motors October 2012 futures were trading at a premium of 0.50 at 269.30 compared with spot closing of 268.80. The number of contracts traded was 15,024.

DLF October 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.85 point at 206.60 compared with spot closing of 205.75. The number of contracts traded was 13,857.

Tata Steel October 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.60 point at 408.00 compared with spot closing of 407.40. The number of contracts traded was 13,154.

ICICI Bank October 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.90 point at 1059.95 compared with spot closing of 1059.05. The number of contracts traded was 19,190.  

Among Nifty calls, 5800 SP from the October month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1.20 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5600 SP from the October month expiry was the most active put with contraction of 1.95 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 5800 SP (10.74mn) and that for Puts was at 5600 SP (6.80mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5710.63 -- Pivot Point 5685.31 --Support 5658.93.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 0.91 for October - month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were AXIS Bank 1.90, PNB 1.67, ITC 1.45, Abirlanuvo 1.25 and ABB 1.00.

Among the most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 0.85 million of Open Interest in the October month futures contract followed by Jaiprakash Associates which witnessed contraction of 9.01 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, IFCI witnessed contraction of 2.33 million in the October month futures. Also, RCOM witnessed contraction of 3.44 million in Open Interest in the October month contract. Finally, DLF witnessed contraction of 4.08 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.