Nifty snaps 7-day losing streak; ends marginally higher

CNX Nifty, snapping the 7-day losing streak, closed marginally higher on Tuesday. However, risk appetite was frail as investors opted to remain on the side-lines in a holiday truncated week coupled with derivative contracts expiry on March 28 and continued concerns about political stability. On the global front, most of the Asian markets, rebounding from their choppy start, ended in the green terrain. Meanwhile, European markets made a mixed start in the early deals on Tuesday.   

Back home, Indian equity benchmark made a negative start on sustained selling by investors on worries over domestic political instability and a weakening trend in global markets. However, the market pared losses and turned into green in the late morning session, on the back of fresh buying by funds and retail investors. Though, the gains remain capped as investors’ were trading cautiously amid concerns over the Cyprus deal, political jitters at home, end of the derivative contracts on March 28 and hawkish view by the Reserve Bank of India on future rate cuts. Gains in FMCG and finance stocks were offset by losses in realty, PSU bank and energy stocks, which led the market to close near the neutral line. Finally, Nifty ended the session with a marginal gain of 7 points.   

Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made a mixed closing. CNX FMCG up by 1.24%, CNX Finance up by 0.81% and CNX IT up by 0.44% remained the gainers in the trade. While,  CNX Realty down 2.26%, CNX Energy down 1.66%, CNX PSU Bank down 0.60%, CNX Metal down 0.57% and CNX Infra down 0.50% remained the top losers in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, down by 3.42% and reached 15.80.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 3.42 % at 15.80 as compared to its previous close of at 16.36 on Monday.

The 50-share CNX Nifty gained 7.75 points or 0.14% to settle at 5,641.60. Nifty March 2013 futures closed at 5,640.35 on Tuesday at a discount of 1.25 points over spot closing of 5,641.60, while Nifty April 2013 futures ended at 5,675.85, at a premium of 34.25 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw contraction of 1.03 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 12.16 mn units. The near month March 2013 derivatives contract will expire on March 28, 2013.

From the most active contracts, Tata Motors March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.55 points at 275.50 compared with spot closing of 274.95. The number of contracts traded was 16,161.

Tata Steel March 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 0.85 points at 306.85 compared with spot closing of 306.00. The number of contracts traded was 13,789.

DLF March 2013 futures were trading at a discount of 0.50 points at 236.50 compared with spot closing of 237.00. The number of contracts traded was 16,083.

Reliance Industries April 2013 futures were at a premium of 6.95 points at 788.95 compared with spot closing of 782.00. The number of contracts traded was 13,280. 

Reliance Industries March 2013 futures were at a premium of 1.90 points at 783.90 compared with spot closing of 782.00. The number of contracts traded was 21,019.

Among Nifty calls, 6,000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with contraction of 0.67 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,600 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.58 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6000 SP (7.79 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,600 SP (8.03mn).

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 0.74 for March -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were TCS 1.90, Sun Pharma 1.87, HDFC Bank 1.77, Asian Paint1.74, and ITC 1.64.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 8.91 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract followed by Jaiprakash Associates which witnessed contraction of 12.73 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, IFCI witnessed of contraction of 18.25 million in the March month futures. Also, RCOM witnessed contraction of 11.22 million in Open Interest in the March month contract. Finally, Hindalco Industries witnessed a contraction of 8.62 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.