Local benchmark S&P CNX -- Nifty -- resumed its southward journey on Wednesday and ended the trade below its 14150 level. Market made a caution start and altered between green and red zone for most part of the trade, as traders were concerned with World Bank in its Global Economic Prospects report that India's economy is estimated to contract by 9.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21), reflecting a sharp drop in household spending and private investment. Report said that the informal sector, which accounts for four-fifths of employment, has been subject to severe income losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In India, the pandemic hit the economy at a time when growth was already decelerating. In the late afternoon session, market lost ground and ended near intraday low, as India's services sector activity expanded at a slower pace in December as rates of growth in sales eased to a three-month low and staff hiring came to a halt amid weak business optimism. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index fell from 53.7 in November to 52.3 in December. The index was above the critical 50 mark that separates growth from contraction for the third month in a row during December, but pointed to the slowest pace of expansion in the three-month sequence.
Traders were seen piling positions in Bankex, Media and Metal sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, FMGC and IT sector stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were IDFC First Bank, Shriram Transport Finance and Vedanta. On the other hand, the top losers were Info Edge (India), Lupin and Aarti Industries. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 14100 - 15,500 calls and 12,900 - 13,500 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility increased by 2.61% and reached 21.00. The 50 share Nifty down by 53.25 points or 0.38% to settle at 14,146.25.
Nifty January 2021 futures closed at 14178.00 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a premium of 31.75 points over spot closing of 14146.25, while Nifty February 2021 futures ended at 14211.25 (LTP), at a premium of 65.00 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw a contraction of 1,847 units, taking the total open interest (OI) to 1,73,905 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 28, 2021 (Provisional).
From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries January 2021 futures traded at a premium of 10.70 points at 1925.65 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1914.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 68,605 (Provisional).
ICICI Bank January 2021 futures traded at a premium of 2.65 points at 547.65 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 545.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,795 (Provisional).
Bharti Airtel January 2021 futures traded at a premium of 2.85 points at 531.10 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 528.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,330 (Provisional).
HDFC Bank January 2021 futures traded at a premium of 8.25 points at 1425.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1417.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,558 (Provisional).
SBIN January 2021 futures traded at a premium of 1.55 points at 285.35 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 283.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,970(Provisional).
Among, Nifty calls, 14200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 4,238 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 14000 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 593 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 14500 SP (20,670 units) and that for Puts was at 13000 SP (32,065 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 14,246.97 -- Pivot Point 14,143.43 -- Support -- 14,042.72.
The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.67) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Asian Paints (1.15), Vedanta (0.96), HDFC Life Insurance (0.93), National Aluminium Company (0.85) and Tata Steel (0.84).
Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 11,151 units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract followed by Bharti Airtel witnessed an addition of 414 units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 582 units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract, Tata Steel witnessed a contraction of 644 units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract and Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 1,874 units of Open Interest in the January month futures contract (Provisional).
