Nifty ends higher, regains crucial 6,000 mark

S&P CNX Nifty ended higher on Tuesday led by realty, FMCG and pharma stocks. On global front, Asian market closed lower as investors locked in profits after strong recent gains and on caution ahead of the US earnings season, with markets also watching political developments to resolve the debt ceiling issue. Meanwhile, European markets also made a mixed start after an unexpected slump in German exports set a negative tone ahead of other data that will fill out the picture of the region's economic health. 

Back home, Indian domestic market made a flat start and traded tad below its pre-close level on weak global cues as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits. Market continued to trade in red with investors remained cautious ahead of corporate earnings season for the last quarter of 2012 and the European Central Bank's policy meeting later in the week. In the final session of trade, market turned positive, crossing 6,000 level and reached intra-day high tracing Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh’s statement that government being determined to turn setbacks to opportunity, soothing some worrisome nerves, bargained some gains for market on the account of buying in realty, FMCG and pharma stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session near its intra-day high with a gain of 13 points. 

Meanwhile, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE made a mixed closing. CNX Realty up by 1.39%, CNX FMCG up by 1.21%, CNX Pharma up by 0.85%, CNX PSU Bank up by 0.47% and CNX Finance up by 0.45% remained the top gainers in the trade. While CNX Metal down 1.03%, CNX IT down 0.45%, CNX Energy and MNC both down 0.13% remained the losers. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, down by 4.67% and reached 13.27.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 4.67% at 13.27 as compared to its previous close of at 13.92 on Monday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty gain 13.30 points or 0.22% to settle at 6,001.70.

Nifty January 2013 futures closed at 6043.30 on Tuesday at a premium of 41.60 points over spot closing of 6,001.70, while Nifty February 2013 futures ended at 6078.40, at a premium of 76.70 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw contraction of 0.36 million (mn) taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.69 mn units. The near month January 2013 derivatives contract will expire on January 31, 2013.

From the most active contracts, Unitech January 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.20 at 38.25 compared with spot closing of 38.05. The number of contracts traded was 16,328.

JP Associates January 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.85 at 100.15 compared with spot closing of 99.30. The number of contracts traded was 10,358.

Reliance Communications January 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.40 point at 84.85 compared with spot closing of 84.45. The number of contracts traded was 13,576.

DLF January 2013 futures were at a premium of 1.50 point at 238.25 compared with spot closing of 236.75. The number of contracts traded was 10,204.

Tata Steel January 2013 futures were at a premium of 3.90 point at 437.10 compared with spot closing of 433.20. The number of contracts traded was 10,154.

Among Nifty calls, 6,200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with contraction of 0.25 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,800 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with   an addition  of 0.78 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6200 SP (8.06mn) and that for Puts was at 5800 SP (7.09 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 6017.7 -- Pivot Point 5991.05 -- Support 5975.05.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.28 for January -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Welcorp 5.00, GUJ Fluoro 2.62, Bharti Airtel 1.20, ICICI Bank 1.16 and Bajaj-Auto 1.16.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed an addition of 8.69 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract followed by IFCI which witnessed an addition of 0.40 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, Jaiprakash Associates witnessed of an addition of 2.79 million in the January month futures. Also, RCOM witnessed contraction of 3.30 million in Open Interest in the January month contract. Finally, Shree Renuka Sugars witnessed an addition of 0.56 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.