Nifty ends below crucial 6,050 mark; rate sensitives drag

S&P CNX Nifty ended lower on Thursday on the back of heavy selling pressure witnessed in all frontline counters. Selling in rate sensitives like realty, auto and banking counters ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) third quarter monetary policy review on January 29, mainly led to the downfall. On global front, most Asian market ended lower as positive Chinese manufacturing data was dominated by lower than expected results from Apple Inc. Moreover, European markets also made a mixed start in the thin trade on Thursday.

Back home, Indian equity benchmark, after making a positive start, pared its initial gains and turned into red with investors booking profit at higher levels. In the first half of the trade, market continued its negative trade on account of selling in rate sensitive stocks ahead of RBI’s third quarter monetary policy review on January 29. Market continued its negative trade in second half too, as investor sentiments were weighed down after the Supreme Court restrained the Federation of Indian Airlines from levying a transaction fee, in any form or in any name, while booking tickets and that the aviation regulator - DGCA should review the wide variation in air fares by airlines. Aviation sector stocks like Kingfisher, Spicejet and Jet Airways all edged lower. Some pressure also came in from global front as the IMF chief Christine Lagarde  warned of threats ahead and said that the world’s major economies including Europe, the US and Japan need to get their house in order. Finally, Nifty ended the session with the loss of 34 points.    

Meanwhile, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE made a negative closing. CNX Realty down 5.07%, CNX Media down 2.56%, CNX Auto down 2.55%, CNX PSU Bank down 2.01% and CNX Metal down 1.80% remained the top losers in the trade. While CNX FMCG up by 0.85% and CNX IT up by 0.25% remained the gainers. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, up by 5.77% and reached 14.46.  

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 5.78% at 14.46 as compared to its previous close of at 13.67 on Wednesday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty lost 34.95 points or 0.58% to settle at 6,019.35.

Nifty January 2013 futures closed at 6019.75 on Thursday at a premium of 0.40 points over spot closing of 6,019.35, while Nifty February 2013 futures ended at 6057.20, at a premium of 37.85 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw contraction of 0.93 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 12.29 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 at a premium of 0.25 at 34.00 compared with spot closing of 33.75. The number of contracts traded was 19,116.

JP Associates January 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.25 at 83.00 compared with spot closing of 82.75. The number of contracts traded was 18,401.

RCom January 2013 futures were at a discount of 0.05 of 6.80 point at 80.25 compared with spot closing of 80.30. The number of contracts traded was 20,562.

HDIL January 2013 futures were flat at 72.60 compared with spot closing of 72.60. The number of contracts traded was 29,083.

Tata Motors January 2013 futures were at a premium of 1.05 point at 293.90 compared with spot closing of 292.85. The number of contracts traded was 36,894.

Among Nifty calls, 6,200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.49 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,800 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.03 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6200 SP (9.71 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,800 SP (8.46mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 6053.82 -- Pivot Point 6030.83 -- Support 5996.37.

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 Mcleodruss 4.00, Welcorp 2.50, GUJ Fluoro 2.15, Infosys 2.11 and SR Transfin 1.83.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 4.46 million of Open Interest in the January month futures contract followed by JP Associaties which witnessed contraction of 3.55 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, IFCI witnessed of contraction of 1.80 million in the January month futures. Also, Rcom witnessed an addition of 1.76 million in Open Interest in the January month contract. Finally, R Power witnessed contraction of 1.63 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.