Nifty ends lower amid weak global cues

CNX Nifty ended the first day of the week in the red amid weak global cues and weighed down by selling pressure in rate sensitive shares, as investors turned cautious ahead of the RBI’s policy review on Tuesday. On global front, all the Asian equity indices shut shop in the red with Shanghai Composite losing over one and a half percent as China’s property developers stretched losses. Meanwhile, European counters followed Asian shares and traded choppy in the early deals.

Back home, Indian Nifty made a gap down opening tumbling below its crucial 5,850 levels on the back of frail global cues as the US markets declined on Friday, losing their gaining streak on report of a drop in consumer confidence. In the first half, market traded in red as investors opted to remain on sidelines ahead of the RBI’s policy announcement scheduled on March 19. Investors’ sentiments were also weighed down by the selling in banking stocks and the scrips like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank edged lower as finance ministry and the RBI started  investigating allegations of money laundering practices at these top private sector lenders. Market continued its weak trade in the second half too, on selling in frontline counters and taking negative cues from European counterpart, triggered by unusual bailout proposal for Cyprus. Selling pressure witnessed in all major indices of the market except FMCG and Pharma. Finally, Nifty ended the session with the loss of 37 points. 

Meanwhile, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE made a negative closing. CNX Metal down 2.11%, CNX Realty down 1.70%, CNX PSE down 1.56%, CNX Auto down 1.33% and CNX energy down 0.97% remained the top losers in the trade. While, CNX FMCG up by 0.78% and CNX Pharma up by 0.43% remained the gainers in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, up by 4.55% and reached 15.85.

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 4.55% at 15.85 as compared to its previous close of at 15.16 on Friday.

The 50-share CNX Nifty lost 37.35 points or 0.64% to settle at 5,835.25.

Nifty March 2013 futures closed at 5,851.40 on Monday at a premium of 16.15 points over spot closing of 5,835.25, while Nifty April 2013 futures ended at 5,886.10, at a premium of 50.85 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.28 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 15.26 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 0.35 points at 74.45 compared with spot closing of 74.10. The number of contracts traded was 7,167.

Tata Motors March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.55 points at 288.05 compared with spot closing of 287.50. The number of contracts traded was 8,964.

DLF March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.90 points at 271.55 compared with spot closing of 270.65. The number of contracts traded was 10,540.

ICICI Bank March 2013 futures were at a premium of 4.85 points at 1056.85 compared with spot closing of 1052.00. The number of contracts traded was 20,293.

Reliance Industries March 2013 futures were at a premium of 2.05 points at 836.55 compared with spot closing of 834.50. The number of contracts traded was 10,454.

Among Nifty calls, 6,000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.90 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with contraction of 0.08 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6000 SP (8.58 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,700 SP (10.80 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5852.18-- Pivot Point 5833.27-- Support 5816.33.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.34 for March -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Divis Lab 2.50, HDFC Bank 2.32, TCS 1.76, Asian Paints 1.64 and Sun Pharma 1.49. 

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed an addition of 1.23 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract followed by JP Associates which witnessed contraction of 0.06 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, IFCI witnessed of contraction of 0.19 million in the March month futures. Also, RCOM witnessed contraction of 0.34 million in Open Interest in the March month contract. Finally, Hindalco witnessed a contraction of 1.83 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.