Nifty ends modestly higher ahead of the Christmas holiday

S&P CNX Nifty pared most of the day's gain as investors booked profits at higher levels ahead of the Christmas holiday and expiry of December derivative contracts on Thursday. On global front, most of the Asian equity indices shut shop in the green terrain as optimism grew that a deal would be made to avert the fiscal cliff amid hopes of economic stimulus from the Bank of Japan this week. Meanwhile, European counters made a firm opening and are trading positively with banks posting the biggest advances.

Back home, Indian equity market after witnessing sharp cut in previous session, made a decent recovery on Monday morning. However, global risk appetite remained frail on concerns over US budget deal and the domestic market gave up their early gains. Trade continued positive but in a narrow range till the mid of the session, following Asian peers and as traders piled up positions in media, IT, realty and pharma stocks. But traders were reluctant to take huge position in the derivatives market ahead of Christmas holiday and finally, Nifty ended the session with marginal gain.

Meanwhile, the sectoral indices on the NSE made a mixed closing, CNX Media up by 2.02%, CNX IT up by 0.94%, CNX Realty up by 0.69%, CNX Pharma up by 0.65% and CNX Auto up by 0.44% remained the top gainers in the trade. While CNX Metal down 0.46%, CNX Energy down 0.36%, CNX Commodities down 0.29%, CNX PSE down 0.19% and CNX PSU Banks down by 0.12% remained the loser. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, down by 0.95% and reached 14.49.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 0.96% at 14.49 as compared to its previous close of at 14.63 on Friday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty gained 8.05 points or 0.14% to settle at 5,855.75.Nifty December 2012 futures closed at 5865.55 on Monday at a premium of 9.80 points over spot closing of 5,855.75, while Nifty January 2013 futures ended at 5916.75, at a premium of 61.00 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw contraction of 2.57 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 13.01 mn units. The near month December 2012 derivatives contract will expire on December 27, 2012.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Communications December 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.25 at 73.55 compared with spot closing of 73.30. The number of contracts traded was 12,780.

JP Associates December 2012 futures were at a premium of 0.25 at 96.10 compared with spot closing of 95.85. The number of contracts traded was 12,109.

DLF December 2012 futures were at a discount of 0.10 point at 223.30 compared with spot closing of 223.40. The number of contracts traded was 14,907.

Tata Motors December 2012 futures were at a discount of 0.30 point at 307.20 compared with spot closing of 307.50. The number of contracts traded was 19,106.

Tata Steel December 2012 futures were at a premium of 2.15 point at 429.75 compared with spot closing of 427.60. The number of contracts traded was 24,970. Among Nifty calls, 6,000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with contraction of 0.80 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with  an addition of 0.23 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6000 SP (11.71 mn) and that for Puts was at 5800 SP (9.06 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5870.2 -- Pivot Point 5857.45 -- Support 5843.00.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.23 for December -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Bajaj-Auto 1.90, Bank Baroda 1.74, PNB 1.58, Tata Motors 1.37 and ABB 1.00.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 9.36 million of Open Interest in the December month futures contract followed by IFCI which witnessed contraction of 15.32 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, Jaiprakash Associates witnessed contraction of 11.90 million in the December month futures. Also, RCOM witnessed contraction of 20.69 million in Open Interest in the December month contract. Finally, R Power witnessed contraction of 7.81 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.