Nifty ends below crucial 5,900 level

CNX Nifty ended lower on Friday weighed down by rate-sensitive sectors. Private sector lenders were hit after the government and the RBI said that they would investigate allegations of money laundering practices. On the global front, Asian market made a mixed closing on Friday, while, European markets traded mostly lower.

Back home, Indian equity benchmark made a gap-up start buoyed by firm global cues, as the US markets closed higher on getting report of unexpected drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended March 9. In the first half, market traded in positive territory on the back of sustained buying in key heavyweights along with broader indices. However, in the second half, market pared its gains and slipped into the negative territory amid profit booking in frontline counters tailing European counterparts, which made a soft start. Investors also traded cautiously, expecting rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy of the RBI. Market extended its losses after Standard & Poor's stated that the economic support for India’s sovereign ratings has weakened somewhat given the sluggish growth in the country. Selling pressure was witnessed in realty, auto and banking stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session with the loss of 36 points.

Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made a mixed closing. CNX Realty down 3.05%, CNX Finance down 1.08%, CNX Energy down 1.06%, CNX Infra down 0.84% and CNX Auto down 0.80% remained the top losers in the trade. While, CNX Media up by 0.83%, CNX Pharma up by 0.24%, CNX IT up by 0.17% and CNX FMCG up by 0.07% remained the gainers in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, up by 3.41% and reached 15.16

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 3.41% at 15.16 as compared to its previous close of at 14.66 on Thursday.

The 50-share CNX Nifty lost 36.35 points or 0.62% to settle at 5,872.60.

Nifty March 2013 futures closed at 5,897.10 on Friday at a premium of 24.50 points over spot closing of 5,872.60, while Nifty April 2013 futures ended at 5,931.65, at a premium of 59.05 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw contraction of 0.06 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 14.97 mn units.

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

From the most active contracts, Hindalco Industries March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.85 points at 96.15 compared with spot closing of 95.30. The number of contracts traded was 10,403.

Tata Motors March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 1.55 points at 292.80 compared with spot closing of 291.25. The number of contracts traded was 14,225.

DLF March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 2.15 points at 274.20 compared with spot closing of 272.05. The number of contracts traded was 20,064.

Titan Industries March 2013 futures were at a discount of 1.15 points at 243.25 compared with spot closing of 244.40. The number of contracts traded was 9,956.

ICICI Bank March 2013 futures were at a premium of 4.75 points at 1074.10 compared with spot closing of 1069.35. The number of contracts traded was 32,519.

Among Nifty calls, 6,000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.42 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.04 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6000 SP (7.68 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,700 SP (10.89 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5925.16-- Pivot Point 5893.08-- Support 5840.51.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.40 for March -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Divis Lab 2.71, HDFC Bank 2.30, TCS 1.79, Asian Paints 1.52 and Kotak Bank 1.49. 

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 5.70 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract followed by JP Associates which witnessed contraction of 0.48 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, IFCI witnessed of contraction of 1.28 million in the March month futures. Also, RCOM witnessed contraction of 0.57 million in Open Interest in the March month contract. Finally, Hindalco witnessed a contraction of 0.23 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.