Nifty ends in deep red; settles below 18,050 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended in deep red, impacted by heavy selling at metal and realty counters. After a cautious start, market witnessed heavy losses during the day, as bears held a tight grip over the street. Some concerns came as foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 628.07 crore on January 3, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Traders failed to take any sense of relief with a private report stating that India's services industry saw activity increase at the fastest pace in six months during the final month of 2022 amid robust demand, fuelling business optimism despite high costs.

In the second half of the trading session, market cut some of its losses but unable to hold recovery and again continued its down fall, as investors were worried ahead of minutes of the US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting which is due later in day, which could impact the outlook for interest rates, as well as the release of the closely watched monthly US jobs report on Friday. Finally, Nifty ended the session with the cut of above one percent.

All the sectorial indices ended in red. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals, Havells India and Shree Cement. On the other hand, the top losers were Aditya Birla Capital, Hindalco Industries and JSW Steel. 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 5.64% and reached 15.20. The 50 share Nifty down by 189.60 points or 1.04% to settle at 18,042.95.

Nifty January 2023 futures closed at 18102.95 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a premium of 60.00 points over spot closing of 18042.95, while Nifty February 2023 futures ended at 18168.00 (LTP), at a premium of 125.05 points over spot closing.  Nifty January futures saw an addition of 18,252 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,37,707 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 25, 2023. (Provisional)    

From the most active contracts, Indusind Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 4.65 points at 1225.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1220.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,846.(Provisional)    

ICICI Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 6.60 points at 904.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 897.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,080. (Provisional)    

Reliance Industries January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 14.35 points at 2531.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2516.65. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,184. (Provisional)    

HDFC Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 9.15 points at 1619.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1610.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,612. (Provisional)    

Infosys January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 3.05 points at 1498.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1494.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,118. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 18200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 10,549 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 18000 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1,524 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 19000 SP (52,278 units) and that for Puts was at 18000 SP (74,257 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 18183.76 -- Pivot Point 18102.18 -- Support -- 17961.36.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.36) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on IDFC (1.05), Interglobe Aviation (0.94), IPCA Laboratories (0.93), Adani Enterprises  (0.88), and RBL Bank (0.88).

Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 2,370 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, AXIS Bank witnessed an addition of 129 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 5,035 units of Open Interest in the January month futures and Indusind Bank witnessed an addition of 1,629 units of Open Interest in the January month futures. (Provisional)