Nifty ends lower on Friday; settles below 18,300 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended near intraday low point on final day of week as traders remain concerned about global economic slowdown due to surging interest rates, and further imminent increases from central banks. Soon after making a volatile start, market witnessed sell off as sentiments got hit with a private report stating that India's current account deficit likely rose to its highest in nearly a decade in the July-September quarter as elevated commodity prices and a weak rupee stretched the trade gap even further.

However, market trimmed most of its losses and traded near neutral line in afternoon session, as traders got support with the government’s statement that it will take steps to support farmers for increasing pulses production and also streamline imports as part of its objective to make available the products at affordable rates. The Department of Consumer Affairs will take all necessary steps required to support Indian farmers to produce more pulses. But, in late afternoon trading session, recovery got fizzled out and market fell sharply to close near intraday low point, as sentiments remained downbeat with report stated that investments by private equity and venture capital funds have declined by 42 per cent year-on-year to $4 billion in November.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in red. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Balrampur Chini Mills, Coforge and Tata Motors. On the other hand, the top losers were Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, India Cements and Polycab India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 18900 -19100 calls and 17900 -18100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 2.45% and reached 14.07. The 50 share Nifty down by 145.90 points or 0.79% to settle at 18,269.00.

Nifty December 2022 futures closed at 18329.90 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 60.90 points over spot closing of 18269.00, while Nifty January 2023 futures ended at 18441.00 (LTP), at a premium of 172.00 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 01,613 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,20,015 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 29, 2022. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, Tata Motors December 2022 futures traded at a discount of 4.15 points at 418.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 422.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,462. (Provisional)

Reliance Industries December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 11.35 points at 2579.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2567.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 35,916. (Provisional)

HDFC Bank December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 5.55 points at 1527.05 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1521.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 30,868. (Provisional)

Infosys December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 1.95 points at 1637.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1635.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,834. (Provisional)

Dr Reddy's Laboratories December 2022 futures traded at a premium of 20.00 points at 4395.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 4375.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,162. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 18500 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1,010 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 18000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 12,247 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 19000 SP (75,383 units) and that for Puts was at 18000 SP (87,650 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 18388.25 -- Pivot Point 18321.70 -- Support -- 18202.45.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.17) for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Aditya Birla Capital (0.97), Power Finance Corporation (0.92), Britannia Industries (0.91), Max Financial Services (0.90) and AXIS Bank (0.90).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 3,142 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 1,731 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 12,290 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, Adani Enterprises witnessed an addition of 870 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, and State Bank of India witnessed a contraction of 27 units of Open Interest in the December month futures. (Provisional)