Nifty pares intraday gains; Ends on a flat note

Nifty gave away intraday gains and closed on a flat-to-positive note above 6000 as investors booked profits in heavy weights like Reliance Industries, L&T and BHEL. Sharp selling pressure came in the last hour of trade after Larsen & Toubro, India's biggest engineering and construction group, reported disappointing numbers for the June quarter. Investors were trading cautiously on signs that Moody's may lower FY14 GDP growth target to 5% from 5.5%. Moreover, as per Moody's statement, current account deficit continues to remain a major concern for Indian economy and fiscal deficit may expand due to growth constraints. In the currency market, Indian rupee too pared its early gains to trade lower against the greenback due to increased demand from corporate.

Global cues remained mixed with most of the European counters opening in the red as traders remained cautious on report that politicians in Portugal failed to reach an agreement over the future of the country’s bailout package. Meanwhile, most of the Asian equity indices shut shop in the green as sentiments remained up-beat after the Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party coalition easily won a majority of the 121 seats contested in the upper house elections over the weekend. The victory gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe control over both houses, consolidating its political power.

After making a negative start, the 50 share Index turned marginally in the green in the morning deals as some support came in from report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 252.26 crore on July 19, 2013. Nifty continued trade positive territory in late morning session, In the late afternoon session it pared most of its intraday gains and traded flat as, Larsen & Toubro, country’s biggest engineering and construction major, said its net profit dropped 12 per cent as global slowdown impacted order flows.

Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made a negative closing. CNX Finance up by 1.45%, CNX Service up by 1.12%, CNX PSU Bank up by 1.09%, CNX Auto up by 1.06% and CNX Bank up by 1.03% remained the top gainers in the trade. While, CNX Infra down by 2.44%, CNX PSE down 1.42%,CNX Energy down by 1.37%, CNX Commodities down by  0.97% and CNX Realty by  0.62% were the loser in the trade.

The India VIX witnessed contraction of 2.76% at 17.63 as compared to its previous close of 18.13 on Friday. The 50-share CNX Nifty gained 2.60 points or 0.04% to settle at 6,031.80.

Nifty July 2013 futures closed at 6043.55 on Monday at a premium of 11.75 points over spot closing of 6,031.80, while Nifty August 2013 futures ended at 6080.60 at a premium of 48.80 points over spot closing. Nifty July futures saw contraction of 1.17 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 14.11 mn units. The near month July 2013 derivatives contract will expire on July 25, 2013.

From the most active contracts, Reliance Capital July 2013 futures last traded at a premium of 0.30 points at 377.30 compared with spot closing of 377.00. The number of contracts traded was 14,117.

L&T July 2013 futures were at a premium of 2.80 points at 902.80 compared with spot closing of 900.00. The number of contracts traded was 49,812. 

TCS July 2013 futures last traded at a discount of 3.05 points at 1744.80 compared with spot closing of 1747.85. The number of contracts traded was 17,197.

ICICI Bank July 2013 futures were at a premium of 0.55 points at 975.55 compared with spot closing of 975.00. The number of contracts traded was 16,368. 

Reliance Industries July 2013 futures last traded at a premium of 3.95 points at 911.45 compared with spot closing of 907.50. The number of contracts traded was 25,333.

  Among Nifty calls, 6,100 SP from the July month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.27 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 5,900 SP from the July month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.06 million open interest.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6,100 SP (5.97 mn) and that for Puts was at 5,900 SP (9.96 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 6062.55 -- Pivot Point 6033.4 -- Support-- 6002.65.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.58 for July-month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Sesa Goa 2.06, MRF 2.00,  Ambuja Cement 1.96, Bharat Forg 1.67 and HUL 1.61.

Among most active underlying, Unitech witnessed contraction of 4.10 million of Open Interest in the July month futures contract followed by Jaiprakash Associates which witnessed contraction of 5.92 million of Open Interest in the near month contract; Reliance Communication witnessed contraction of 4.58 million in the July month futures. Also, Reliance Power witnessed contraction of 2.62 million in Open Interest in the July month contract and BHEL witnessed contraction of4.69 million of Open Interest in the near month futures contract.