Nifty ends lower on last trading day of 2022

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended in red terrain on last trading day of 2022. Market made a positive start, as traders got support with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the Indian economy is resilient with financial stability maintained with a well-capitalised banking sector, amid global uncertainties and shocks. Some support also came with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that he expects at least two more free trade agreements (FTA) to be signed up in 2023. He said negotiations are scheduled with the UK, European Union and Canada.

Market managed to remain higher for the most part of the session as traders took support with the finance ministry’s statement that India's external debt stood at $610.5 billion in the second quarter of 2022-23, down by $2.3 billion from end-June 2022. The external debt to GDP ratio stood at 19.2 per cent as at end-September 2022 as compared to 19.3 per cent at end-June. However, market erased all of its gains in final leg of trade and ended in negative terrain as traders got cautious with data released by the Reserve Bank showing that the country's current account deficit widened to 4.4 per cent of the GDP in the quarter ended September, from 2.2 per cent of GDP during the April-June period, due to higher trade gap.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in red except Media, Metal, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Healthcare Index. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Shriram Finance, Manappuram Finance and Amara Raja Batteries. On the other hand, the top losers were Grasim Industries, Eicher Motors and SBI Life Insurance Company. 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 0.37% and reached 14.87. The 50 share Nifty down by 85.70 points or 0.47% to settle at 18,105.30.

Nifty January 2023 futures closed at 18219.50 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 114.20 points over spot closing of 18105.30, while Nifty February 2023 futures ended at 18301.50 (LTP), at a premium of 196.20 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 9,547 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,19,765 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 25, 2023. (Provisional)   

From the most active contracts, Reliance Industries January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 17.95 points at 2564.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2547.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,445. (Provisional)   

ICICI Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.20 points at 898.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 892.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,885. (Provisional)   

Bajaj Finance January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 52.95 points at 6629.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 6577.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,647. (Provisional)   

Canara Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 2.15 points at 335.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 333.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,225. (Provisional)   

HDFC Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.90 points at 1635.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1630.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 16,823. (Provisional)  

Among, Nifty calls, 18200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 9,657 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 18000 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 2,777 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 19000 SP (46,185 units) and that for Puts was at 18000 SP (67,267 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 18220.26 -- Pivot Point 18150.28 -- Support -- 18035.31.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.44) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Torrent Pharmaceuticals (1.18), Britannia Industries (1.07), IPCA Laboratories (1.01), Alkem Laboratories (1.00), and Colgate-Palmolive (0.99).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 818 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, Bajaj Finance witnessed an addition of 1,303 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, Canara Bank witnessed an addition of 926 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 5,006 units of Open Interest in the January month futures and State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 425 units of Open Interest in the January month futures. (Provisional)