Nifty ends lower on Thursday; settles below 17900 mark

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- finished lower on Thursday ahead of inflation data. After making a slightly positive start, market soon turned negative as traders were concerned with World Economic Forum’s report stating that a cost of living crisis, digital inequality, geopolitical contest for resources, natural disasters and extreme weather events are the biggest risks for India over the short and medium term. In afternoon session, market extended its losses and traded near intraday low point, as traders remained cautious with a private report stating that funding for Indian startups dropped by 33 per cent to USD 24 billion in 2022 as compared to the previous year though it was nearly double the amount recorded in 2019 or 2020.

However, in the last hour of the trade, market managed to come off its intraday low point as traders took some support with Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal’s statement that Prime Minister Modi always focused on encouraging the development and economic growth in states thereby providing huge opportunities to the people in the remotest parts of India. He further noted that India is today the 5th largest economy of the world and it is rapidly progressing to become the top 3 economies of the world. But, market ended the day in red below its 17900 mark.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in red except Auto, IT, Media and Realty. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Navin Fluorine International, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and PVR. On the other hand, the top losers were Voltas, Divi's Laboratories and Granules India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 17900 -18100 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 1.03% and reached 15.28. The 50 share Nifty up by 37.50 points or 0.21% to settle at 17,858.20.

Nifty January 2023 futures closed at 17924.50 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 66.30 points over spot closing of 17858.20, while Nifty February 2023 futures ended at 17998.00 (LTP), at a premium of 139.80 points over spot closing.  Nifty January futures saw an addition of 6,819 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,36,675 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 10.00 points at 2485.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2475.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 41,782. (Provisional)   

Infosys January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.00 points at 1487.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1482.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,554. (Provisional)   

ICICI Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 2.70 points at 865.45 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 862.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 22,321. (Provisional)   

HDFC Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 5.80 points at 1602.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1597.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,593. (Provisional)   

Axis Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.80 points at 936.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 935.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,004. (Provisional)   

Among, Nifty calls, 17900 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 33,558 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 17800 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 6,945 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18000 SP (57,663 units) and that for Puts was at 17500 SP (56,522 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 17948.78 -- Pivot Point 17855.21 -- Support -- 17764.63.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.11) for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Tata Consultancy Services (0.99), IDFC (0.96), Max Financial Services (0.87), HCL Technologies (0.81) and Jindal Steel & Power (0.80).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 12,816 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, AXIS Bank witnessed an addition of 1,937 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, Infosys witnessed an addition of 1,907 units of Open Interest in the December month futures and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 4,893 units of Open Interest in the December month futures. (Provisional)