Last leg sell-off drags Nifty below 6500 levels

Thursday turned out to be a disappointing session of trade for the street. The intra-day reversal which took place in the late hours of the trade, mainly washed away all initial gains, dragged the index below the neutral line. Pessimistic global sentiments dragged the local markets below psychological 6,500 levels. Earlier, sentiments remained jubilant after the consumer price index (CPI) for February eased to 8.10 percent from 8.79 percent in January, its lowest level since January 2012. Meanwhile, the index of industrial production (IIP) in January stood at positive 0.1 percent, highest since September 2013, against an expectation of continued contraction. However, investors turned cautious and chose to take profits off the table, a day after China released another batch of disappointing data, adding to fears about growth in the economic giant. 

Meanwhile, sectoral indices on the NSE made negative closing. CNX PSE up by 1.37%, CNX Finance up by 1.08%, CNX Energy up by 1.04%, CNX Bank up by 0.98% and CNX Auto up by 0.98% remained the gainers in the trade. While, CNX IT down by 4.20%, CNX Realty down by 3.70%, CNX Media down by 2.15%, CNX Pharma down by 1.24% and CNX Service down by 1.05% were remained the top losers in the trade.

The India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility, down by 1.29% and reached 16.8200. The 50-share CNX Nifty decreased by 23.80 points or 0.37% to settle at 6,493.10.

Nifty March 2014 futures closed at 6,519.60 on Thursday at a premium of 26.50 points over spot closing of 6,493.10, while Nifty April 2014 futures ended at 6565.65 at a premium of 72.55 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 0.79 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 19.41 mn units. The near month March 2014 derivatives contract will expire on March 27, 2014.

From the most active contracts, DLF March 2014 futures were at a premium of 1.20 points at 168.90 compared with spot closing of 167.70. The number of contracts traded was 14,292.

HDFC Bank March 2014 futures traded at a premium of 7.05 points at 748.20 compared with spot closing of 741.15. The number of contracts traded was 16,766.

Tata Steel March 2014 futures were at a premium of 1.10 points at 337.60 compared with spot closing of 336.50. The number of contracts traded was 19,111.

Reliance Industries March 2014 futures traded at a premium of 5.00 points at 882.90 compared with spot closing of 877.90. The number of contracts traded was 22,376.

ICICI Bank March 2014 futures traded at a premium of 3.10 points at 1224.00 compared with spot closing of 1220.90. The number of contracts traded was 24,275.

Among Nifty calls, 6,600 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.15 million open interest.

Among Nifty puts, 6,400 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with contraction of 0.08 million open interests.

The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 6,600 SP (4.64 mn) and that for Puts was at 6,400 SP (6.65 mn).The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 6544.15 -- Pivot Point 6510.4 - Support -- 6459.35.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR), finally stood at 1.45 for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on OI were Ambuja Cement 1.60, IOC 1.47, BPCL 1.40, Hindalco 1.39 and HDFC 1.36.

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed  an addition of 0.04 million of Open Interest in the March month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing an addition  of 0.14 million of Open Interest in the March month contract; United Spirits  witnessed contraction of 0.14 million of Open Interest in the March month futures. ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 0.05 million of Open Interest in the March month contract and TCS witnessed an addition of 0.07 million in Open Interest in the expiring March month's future contract.