Nifty ends lower amid profit booking

CNX Nifty ended lower for the second consecutive day on Tuesday weighed down by selling pressure in rate sensitive shares after double digit retail inflation in February dimmed hopes of a rate cut by the central bank at its policy meet next week. On the global front, Asian markets too dampened the sentiments as most of them reversed their morning gains and shut shop in the red as worries grew about China’s recovery and Europe’s doldrums. Meanwhile, most of the European markets managed to keep their head above water in the early deals.

Back home, Indian equity benchmark made a flat start as market participants opted to remain sideways ahead of IIP data for the month of January. In the first half of trade, market hovered near its pre-close mark in green despite India's annual industrial output growth measured by index of industrial production (IIP) growing by 2.4% for the month of January 2013 against contraction of 0.6% in the previous month as cautiousness crept in on whether the RBI would ease monetary policy this month.  However, in the second half, market slipped into red as February CPI inflation number disappointed market, coming in at over 10 percent for the third consecutive month. Marker extended its losses on the back of selling pressure witnessed in reality, infra and finance stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session near its intra-day low with a loss of 28 points.

Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made a negative closing. CNX Realty down 1.54%, CNX Infra down 1.28%, CNX Finance down 1.02% and CNX IT down 0.70% remained the top losers in the trade. While, CNX FMCG down 0.44%, and CNX Auto up by 0.13% remained the gainers in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, up by 6.18% and reached 15.13.

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 6.18% at 15.13 as compared to its previous close of at 14.25 on Monday.

The 50-share CNX Nifty lost 28.25 points or 0.48% to settle at 5,914.10.

Nifty March 2013 futures closed at 5,937.25 on Tuesday at a premium of 23.15 points over spot closing of 5,914.10, while Nifty April 2013 futures ended at 5,970.25, at a premium of 56.15 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw contraction of 0.57 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 16.07 mn units.

The near month March 2013 derivatives contract will expire on March 28, 2013.

From the most active contracts, JP Associates March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.40 points at 77.50 compared with spot closing of 77.10. The number of contracts traded was 9,645.

Tata Motors March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 1.60 points at 305.95 compared with spot closing of 304.35. The number of contracts traded was 11,302.

Tata Steel March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.75 points at 357.70 compared with spot closing of 356.95. The number of contracts traded was 9,099.

DLF March 2013 futures were at a premium of 1.85 points at 284.45 compared with spot closing of 282.60. The number of contracts traded was 18,799.

Reliance Industries March 2013 futures were at a premium of 6.65 points at 852.50 compared with spot closing of 845.85. The number of contracts traded was 13,286. 

Among Nifty calls, 6,000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.75 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 1.01 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6100 SP (6.72 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,700 SP (12.00 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5946.18-- Pivot Point 5919.92-- Support 5887.83.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.69 for March -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Colpal 4.00, Kotak Bank 2.48, HDFC Bank 2.42, Divislab 2.38 and TCS 1.82.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 2.44 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract followed by Jaiprakash Associates which witnessed contraction of 0.11 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, Rcom witnessed of contraction of 0.31 million in the March month futures. Also, RPower witnessed an addition of 0.26 million in Open Interest in the March month contract. Finally, BHEL witnessed contraction of 0.33 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.