Nifty ends flat with negative bias ahead of monthly F&O expiry

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended flat with negative bias, ahead of monthly F&O expiry. Market made a positive start as traders remained positive amid bets for less-aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Soon market trimmed some of its gains, but continued to trade in green terrain in morning session, as traders took some support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country's services exports are doing extremely well and going by the current trend these outbound shipments would register about 20 per cent growth in this fiscal (FY23) and cross the $300 billion target despite global economic uncertainties.

In last hours of the trading session, market traded between red and green terrain. Sentiments were down-beat after Christian de Guzman - senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service and primary analyst for India said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is seen declining to 5.6 percent in 2023-24, although it will still be one of the best performing large economies in the G-20. Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (sebi) in its latest data has showed that Investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes slightly dropped to Rs 96,292 crore at the end of December 2022 from the preceding month on higher valuation of domestic markets.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in red except Auto, Financial Services, FMCG, IT, Media and Consumer Durables. The top gainers from the F&O segment were PVR, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricls and Delta Corp. On the other hand, the top losers were RBL Bank, Syngene International and Tata Communications. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 18100 -18300 calls and 18050 -18150 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 0.29% and reached 13.66. The 50 share Nifty down by 0.25 points to settle at 18,118.30.

Nifty January 2023 futures closed at 18118.90 (LTP) on Tuesday, at a premium of 0.60 points over spot closing of 18118.30, while Nifty February 2023 futures ended at 18206.00 (LTP), at a premium of 87.70 points over spot closing.  Nifty January futures saw an addition of 12,127 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 1,88,753 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 2.00 points at 2415.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2413.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 57,923. (Provisional)

ICICI Bank January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 1.00 points at 872.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 871.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,992. (Provisional)

Tata Motors January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 0.70 points at 422.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 422.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,047. (Provisional)

Maruti Suzuki India January 2023 futures traded at a premium of 6.60 points at 8702.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 8696.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,524. (Provisional)

HDFC Bank January 2023 futures traded at a discount of 4.00 points at 1689.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1693.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 27,899. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 18200 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 69,264 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 18100 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 10,066 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 18200 SP (2,73,612 units) and that for Puts was at 18100 SP (2,08,547 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 18186.81 -- Pivot Point 18132.73 -- Support -- 18064.21.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (0.67) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Max Financial Services (1.45), Tata Consultancy Services (1.43),  Persistent Systems (1.18), IDFC (1.11) and Tata Steel (1.10).

Among most active underlying, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 7,579 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, AXIS Bank witnessed a contraction of 118 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, HDFC Bank witnessed a contraction of 1,154 units of Open Interest in the January month futures, Maruti Suzuki India witnessed an addition of 1,795 units of Open Interest in the January month futures and ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 1,704 units of Open Interest in the January month futures. (Provisional)