Nifty ends in negative terrain after volatile trading session

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Wednesday’s volatile trading session in red terrain ahead of U.S. inflation data, India December inflation data and November industrial production data which are scheduled to be released on tomorrow. After a cautious start, index altered between green and red terrain during the whole day. Traders were concerned as the World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, and the world’s major economic engines sputter. It expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023, the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions since 1993.

Some concerns came with a private report stating that private equity investments into domestic companies fell sharply year-on-year by 42 per cent to $23.3 billion in 2022, which is the lowest since 2019, when it was $15.8 billion. However, downside remained capped, as traders took some support with Ministry of Commerce and Industry joint secretary M Balaji’s statement that the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed between India and Australia would provide immediate market access at zero duty accounting 96.4 per cent of India’s exports in value terms to Australia.  He said the ECTA has the potential to double bilateral ties between the two countries to $50 billion over the next five years.

Traders were seen piling positions in Auto, FMCG and Pharma, while selling was witnessed in Bank, Financial Services and IT sector. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Communications, NMDC and Indian Oil Corporation. On the other hand, the top losers were Laurus Labs, SRF and Bharti Airtel. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 18900 -19100 calls and 17400 -17600 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.48% and reached 15.44. The 50 share Nifty down by 18.45 points or 0.10% to settle at 17,895.70.

Nifty January 2023 futures closed at 17960.00 (LTP) on Wednesday, at a premium of 64.30 points over spot closing of 17895.70, while Nifty February 2023 futures ended at 18027.00 (LTP), at a premium of 131.30 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw a contraction of 832 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,31,975 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 25, 2023. (Provisional)  

From the most active contracts, Bharti Airtel January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 3.60 points at 769.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 765.40. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,961. (Provisional)  

ICICI Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.90 points at 870.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 864.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 26,240. (Provisional)  

Reliance Industries January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 13.25 points at 2538.25 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2525.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,507. (Provisional)  

HDFC Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 4.00 points at 1593.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1589.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,211. (Provisional)  

Infosys January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 7.25 points at 1478.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1471.05. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,855. (Provisional)  

Among, Nifty calls, 18000 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 3,264 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17900 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 4,655 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 19000 SP (56,383 units) and that for Puts was at 17500 SP (55,141 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17973.25 -- Pivot Point 17898.80 -- Support -- 17821.25.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.11) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on IDFC (1.08), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (0.97), Tata Consultancy Services (0.96), Tata Motors (0.86) and Coal India (0.85).

Among most active underlying, HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 13 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, Bharti Airtel witnessed an addition of 6,328 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, Adani Enterprises witnessed an addition of 533 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3,791 units of Open Interest in the January month futures and Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 5,995 units of Open Interest in the January month futures. (Provisional)