Subdued global cues drag Nifty below 4,800 mark; Rupee hits 32-week low

Trading sentiment bruised further on the back of European jitters and the US debt problem. Moreover, a weak rupee, which continued to slide making a new 32-month low today despite reports of intervention by the RBI, also made traders nervous. In the late trade, negative start on European bourses added to the selling pressure and the local index ended the choppy day of trade with a cut of over two and a half percent below its crucial 5,800 mark. Earlier, market continue to collide for eighth consecutive session as mounting worries about slowing growth and sluggish policy initiatives amid persisting uncertainty over the euro zone debt crisis prompted investors to reduce their exposure. Afterwards, market extended its losses breaching its crucial 4,850 mark as investors’ confidence took a hit when China and Singapore painted a bleak picture of the global economy, with uncertainty over deficit-reduction negotiations in the US adding to the gloom. Meanwhile, oil marketing companies Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp edged lower by 2-4 percent on concerns that a weakening rupee would increase their cost of crude import. Thereafter, the market hovered near its crucial 4,850 mark till mid noon trade but, the sharp fall was witnessed over the last hour, when the European markets opened with over two per cent cuts and the domestic market breached psychological 4,800 mark in the late trade. Metal stocks were the worst hit, falling over three and a half percent. Realty and banking stocks were also trading with over three percent cuts. Only 4 stocks on the Nifty managed to stay in green. Maruti was up 0.79 percent while Coal India, Sun Pharma and HUL were up by 0.45%, 0.28% and 0.04% respectively. Among the losers, SAIL, Sesa Goa and Cairn plunged by 5-7 percent. DLF, Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, ICICI Bank, RCom, IDFC and Infosys were all down 4-5 percent. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee depreciated to 32 week low to 51.87 to the dollar (lost 54 paise) and 69.83 to an euro (fell 65 paise), which resulted huge outflow of money. Finally, Nifty snapped the gloomy day of trade with triple digit cut of about 130 points.

On the global front, the US markets ended its volatile trade on a mixed note on Friday, while all the Asian equity indices witnessed steep fall as Europe’s debt crisis continued to undermine sentiment, with banks and commodity led the region’s decline, while an unexpected trade deficit for Japan further hurt exporter shares in Tokyo. Moreover, all the European counterparts were trading deeply in the red where major indices like CAC and DAX were trading with a cut of over two percent at this point of time. Back home, all the sectoral indices on the NSE were hammered badly with CNX Metal losing the most, ending with a cut of over three and a half percent followed by CNX Realty down by 3.42%, Bank Nifty down by 3.35% and CNX Media down by 3.21% in the trade. The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, surged 7.63% and reached 28.61. 

The India VIX witnessed an addition of 7.63% at 28.61 as compared to its previous close of 26.58 on Friday

The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty offloaded 127.45 or 2.60% to settle at 4,778.35.

Nifty November 2011 futures closed at 4,787.00 at a premium of 8.65 points over spot closing of 4,778.35, while Nifty December 2011 futures were at 4,812.25 at a premium of 33.90 points over spot closing. The near month November 2011 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, November 24, 2011. Nifty November futures saw addition of 14.12% or 3.33 million (mn) units taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 26.98 mn units.

From the most active contract by contract value, SBI’s November 2011 futures were flat at 1670.00 compared with spot closing of 1670.00. The number of contracts traded was 46,195.

L&T November 2011 futures were at a discount of 2.00 point at 1223.00 compared with spot closing of 1225.00. The number of contracts traded was 22,254.

ICICI Bank November 2011 futures were at a premium of 1.15 points at 739.60 compared with spot closing of 738.45. The number of contracts traded was 31,072.

Infosys November 2011 futures were at a premium of 3.00 point at 2633.00 compared with spot closing of 2630.00. The number of contracts traded was 16,163.

Axis Bank November 2011 futures were at a discount of 1.40 point at 946.00 compared with spot closing of 947.40. The number of contracts traded was 21,245.

Among Nifty calls, 4900 SP from the November month expiry was the most active call with addition of 12.39 million or 30.92%.

Among Nifty puts, 4800 SP from the November month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 3.84 million or 6.58%.

The maximum Call OI outstanding for Calls was at 4900 SP (5.25 mn) and that for Puts was at 4800 SP (6.23 mn).

The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 4846.50 -- Pivot Point 4805.65-- Support 4737.50.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 0.69 for November -month contract.

The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Kotak Bank 4.00, Syndicate Bank 3.22, Grasim Industries 2.67, Patni 2.30 and Siemens 1.66.

Among most active underlying, SBI witnessed a contraction of 0.57% of Open Interest (OI) in the November month futures contract followed by ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 2.75% of Open Interest (OI) in the near month contract. Meanwhile Tata Steel witnessed an addition of 7.20% in the November month futures. Also, L&T witnessed a contraction of 2.78% in Open Interest (OI) in the November month contract followed by RIL witnessed a contraction of 1.95% in Open Interest (OI) in the November month contract.