Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Thursday’s trading session on a lower note due to the expiry of January F&O contracts. After making a cautious start, index traded lower for the whole day, as sentiments were cautious with provisional data from the NSE showing that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) maintained selling pressure in the cash segment for six days in a row, offloading shares worth Rs 6,934.93 crore on January 24, 2024. Traders overlooked India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) statement that it expects the persisting El Nino conditions to turn ‘neutral’ prior to the start of monsoon season in June. Neutral El Nino conditions imply that it would not have an adverse impact on the monsoon rains next season. Index continued to trade on a lower note in noon deals, as sentiments remained downbeat amid a private report stating that investments by private equity and venture capital funds declined for the second consecutive year in 2023 after the 'funding winter' impacted 2022. Besides, traders were cautious ahead of upcoming Union Budget. However, in last leg of trade, index trimmed some of its intraday losses but ended in negative terrain.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Reality, Media and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, Pharma and Healthcare. The top gainers from the F&O segment were ACC, Ambuja Cements and Bajaj Auto. On the other hand, the top losers were Indraprastha Gas, Balkrishna Industries and Tech Mahindra. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 22900 - 23100 calls and 20900 - 21100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
