Nifty ends near intra-day low; December inflation data eyed

S&P CNX Nifty ended lower after a volatile session on Friday as investors remained caution ahead of December inflation data scheduled to be released next week, which is likely to decide the stance of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy on January 29. On global front, Asian shares staged a mostly negative close on Friday barring Japanese stocks ended higher for the ninth consecutive week, the market's longest consecutive weekly climb since in 1988, as the yen weakened after Japan announced a larger-than-expected trade deficit, while Chinese stocks dropped after a pick-up in inflation. Meanwhile, European shares made a negative start on Friday.

Back home, Indian equity market made a gap-up opening on the back of strong set of numbers from IT bellwether Infosys. India’s second largest IT services exporter, reported a flat consolidated net profit for the third quarter ending December, 2012. Market pared some early gains but continued its positive trade till first half of trade. However, in second half market turned negative as flattish IIP data seemed to be weighing on the sentiment to some extent. India's annual industrial output growth measured by index of industrial production (IIP), contracted by just 0.1% at 167.3 for the month of November 2012, although way below the robust of 8.2% growth figure in the previous month. In the final hour of trade market reached intra-day low on account of profit booking in rate sensitive and FMCG stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session with a loss of 17 points.

Meanwhile, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE made a negative closing. CNX FMCG down 2.44%, CNX Realty down 2.10%, CNX PSE down 1.82%, CNX MNC down 1.74% and CNX PSU Bank down 1.69% remained the top losers in the trade. While CNX IT up by 9.33%, CNX Service up by 1.17% and CNX Media up by 0.08% remained the gainers. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, down by 0.30% and reached 13.23. 

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 0.30% at 13.23 as compared to its previous close of at 13.37 on Thursday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty lost 17.35 points or 0.29% to settle at 5,951.30.

Nifty January 2013 futures closed at 5,977.30 on Friday at a premium of 26.00 points over spot closing of 5,951.30, while Nifty February 2013 futures ended at 6,017.50, at a premium of 66.20 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw contraction of 0.40 million (mn) taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.70 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 0.60 at 38.35 compared with spot closing of 37.75. The number of contracts traded was 13,788.

JP Associates January 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.65 at 93.65 compared with spot closing of 93.00. The number of contracts traded was 10,091.

Tata Motors January 2013 futures were at a premium of 1.95 point at 331.85 compared with spot closing of 329.90. The number of contracts traded was 10,441.

Reliance Industries January 2013 futures were at a premium of 4.45 point at 842.75 compared with spot closing of 838.30. The number of contracts traded was 12,148.

JSW Steel January 2013 futures were at a premium of 9.55 point at 835.55 compared with spot closing of 826.00. The number of contracts traded was 9,823. Among Nifty calls, 6,200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with contraction of 0.13 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,800 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.27 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6200 SP (7.87 mn) and that for Puts was at 5800 SP (7.87 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5999.9 -- Pivot Point 5970.25 -- Support 5921.65.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.25 for January -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Welcorp 5.00, GUJ Fluoro 2.28, Infosys 2.00, Bharti Airtel 1.31 and Tata Motors 1.28.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 2.21 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract followed by Jaiprakash Associates which witnessed contraction of 1.60 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, RCOM witnessed of contraction of 1.93 million in the January month futures. Also, R Power witnessed an addition of 0.48 million in Open Interest in the January month contract. Finally, Hindalco witnessed contraction of 0.06 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.