Nifty ends lower amid profit booking

S&P CNX Nifty ended lower on Monday as profit booking in broader market weighed. On global front, some of the Asian pacific shares climbed to 18-month highs on Monday after the US data showed sign of a credible recovery, and firmer manufacturing data from Europe and China. Moreover, European stocks were trading in red as investors remained cautious ahead of a meeting between Spanish and German leaders later in the day.

Back home, buoyed by firm global cues, Nifty made a gap-up start and re-conquered its crucial 6000 mark. Market continued its positive trade and investors were seen piling up position in the selected stocks. In the mid-noon session, market pared its early gains but still traded in the positive territory as investors were cautiously awaiting some definite triggers before firming up their near term view. However, in the last leg of the trade, market turned negative and reached its intra-day low on account of selling in bank, energy and pharma stocks. Sentiments were also weighed down by the disappointing Q3 earning result of India's second largest public sector lender, Bank of Baroda. Finally, Nifty ended the session near its intra-day low.  

Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made a mixed closing. CNX Auto up by 0.81%, CNX Media up by 0.62%, CNX Finance up by 0.45% and CNX service up by 0.01% remained the top gainers in the trade. While CNX PSU Bank down 3.22%, CNX Pharma down 1.37%, CNX PSE down 1.02%, CNX Metal down 0.85% and CNX Infra down 0.70% remained the losers. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, up by 4.22% and reached 14.34.  

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 4.22% at 14.34 as compared to its previous close of at 13.76 on Friday.

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty lost 11.65 points or 0.19% to settle at 5,987.25.

Nifty February 2013 futures closed at 5,996.30 on Monday at a premium of 9.05 points over spot closing of 5,987.25, while Nifty March 2013 futures ended at 6030.10, at a premium of 42.85 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw an addition of 0.59 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 13.18 mn units.

The near month February 2013 derivatives contract will expire on February 28, 2013.

From the most active contracts, JP Associates February 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.25 points at 79.70 compared with spot closing of 79.45. The number of contracts traded was 10,044.

BHEL February 2013 futures were at a discount of 5.90 points at 212.45 compared with spot closing of 218.35. The number of contracts traded was 14,733.

IDFC February 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.80 points at 159.65 compared with spot closing of 158.85. The number of contracts traded was 8,826.

Tata Motors February 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.90 points at 292.40 compared with spot closing of 291.50. The number of contracts traded was 11,720.

DLF February 2013 futures were at a discount of 2.05 points at 270.95 compared with spot closing of 273.00. The number of contracts traded was 15,744.

Among Nifty calls, 6,300 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1.83 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,700 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.12 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6300 SP (5.57 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,700 SP (4.64 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 6023.42 -- Pivot Point 6002.33 -- Support 5966.17.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 0.98 for February -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Welcorp 2.50, Indusind Bank 1.64, ITC 1.41, PTC 1.33, and Infosys 1.30.

Among most active underlying, NHPC witnessed an addition of 6.34 million of Open Interest in the February month futures contract followed by Suzlon which witnessed an addition of 6.55 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, Unitech witnessed of contraction of 2.85 million in the February month futures. Also, Jaiprakash Associates witnessed an addition of 4.06 million in Open Interest in the February month contract. Finally, IFCI witnessed an addition of 3.02 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.