Nifty ends lower ahead of US Fed meet; banking, financial shares down

CNX Nifty ended lower on Tuesday amid selling in banking and financial shares as investors turned cautious on account of uncertainty about the future of the US monetary stimulus programme. Further, fall in rupee value against dollar also dented the sentiments. On the global front, Asian markets made a mixed closing. Meanwhile, European counters opened lower on Tuesday.  

Back home, Indian equity benchmark made a negative start amid mixed global cues. In the first half, market traded in red as investors remained nervous ahead of the US Fed meet which begins later today. Further, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept policy rates unchanged on Monday, warning of upward risks to inflation, also weighed on investor sentiments. Market continued weak trade till the end of session on account of selling in frontline counters. Negative start of the European markets also added to the pessimistic sentiments. Selling was witnessed in banking, finance and energy stocks. Finally, Nifty ended the session near its intra-day low level with a loss of 36 points.

Meanwhile, the sectoral indices on the NSE made a negative closing. CNX PSU Bank down 1.35%, CNX Finance down 1.03%, CNX PSE down 0.92% and CNX Energy down 0.74% remained the top losers in the trade. While, CNX Media up by 1.78%, CNX Metal up by 0.71% and CNX IT up by 0.45% remained the losers in the trade. While, India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, up by 0.61% and reached 18.29.

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 0.61% at 18.29 as compared to its previous close of at 18.18 on Monday. The 50-share CNX Nifty lost 36.45 points or 0.62% to settle at 5,813.60.

Nifty June 2013 futures closed at 5812.00 on Tuesday at a discount of 1.60 points over spot closing of 5813.60, while Nifty July 2013 futures ended at 5830.10, at a premium of 16.50 points over spot closing. Nifty June futures saw an addition of 0.75 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 17.79 mn units. The near month June 2013 derivatives contract will expire on June 27, 2013.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Communications June 2013 futures were trading at a discount of 3.50 points at 120.75 compared with spot closing of 124.25. The number of contracts traded was 35,810.

Tata Motors June 2013 futures were at a discount of 0.15 points at 297.45 compared with spot closing of 297.60. The number of contracts traded was 13,467. 

Tata Steel June 2013 futures were at a premium of 1.15 points at 285.55 compared with spot closing of 284.40. The number of contracts traded was 15,331. 

Reliance Industries June 2013 futures were trading at a premium of 3.55 points at 823.65 compared with spot closing of 820.10. The number of contracts traded was 21,726.

ICICI Bank June 2013 futures were trading at a discount of 0.10 points at 1092.15 compared with spot closing of 1092.25. The number of contracts traded was 11,321.

Among Nifty calls, 6,000 SP from the June month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.79 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,700 SP from the June month expiry was the most active put with contraction of 0.49 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6,000 SP (8.57 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,700 SP (7.42 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5849.9 -- Pivot Point 5827.1 -- Support 5790.8.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 0.88 for June -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were CESC 1.38, Dabur 1.21, Federal Bank 1.17, Exide Ind 1.08, and Bajaj-Auto 1.07.Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 1.75 million of Open Interest in the June month futures contract followed by JP Associates which witnessed  an addition of 0.28 million of Open Interest in the near month contract. Meanwhile, Reliance Communications witnessed contraction of 0.47 million in the June month futures. Also, RPower witnessed contraction of 0.92 million in Open Interest in the June month contract. Finally, Hindalco Industries witnessed contraction of 0.08 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.