CONFIRMATION

The benchmark indices opened on a flat note, and after a initial hiccup traded strongly in the green for the entire first half of the trading session, but just after completion of one hour of the second half of the trading session, the markets gradually started losing their gains and ultimately the both the indices closed at their lowest point of the day, till the end of the session. The Nifty and the Sensex closed down by 36 & 91 points respectively. The market breadth also ended on a very negative note with 406 advances to 1111 declines. On the sectoral front, the Energy sector was the biggest loser, followed by the FMCG, Energy, Midcap & Auto sectors. On the individual stocks front, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Jindal Steel & Wipro were the top five Nifty gainers while JP Associate, Rel Infra, Bank of Baroda, Bajaj Auto & Tata Motors were the top five Nifty losers for the day. On the institutional side, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of 368 crores, while DIIs were net sellers to the tune of mere 30 crores in the cash market.

On the derivatives side, FIIs were net sellers in Index futures to the tune of 129 crores and net buyers in Index options to the tune of 38 crores, while they were net buyers in Stock futures to the tune of 525 crores and net sellers in stock options to the tune of 95 crores. Nifty future settled at 5664 with just 5 points premium to the spot, along with a considerable loss of open interest. On the Options side, the PCR stood at 0.94, along with a marginal fall in the India VIX by 0.90%. On the Call options side, the 5700 call added the maximum open interest, followed by the 5600 & 5800 calls, while the 6000 & 6100 calls lost the maximum open interest. On the Put options side, the 5800 put lost the maximum open interest, followed by the 5900, 5400 & 5500 puts. The entire activity in the F&O space, indicates call writing at various levels along with liquidation of positions in the  Index futures and Put Options.

On the technical side, once again Nifty closed below the 5700 mark and with downtrend finally setting in, it’s only a matter of time before the 5600 level is tested and with no immediate supports in this range, we will see new lows in the day’s to come. The levels to watch out for Nifty will be 5687, 5727 on the upside and 5613, 5577 on the downside. On the currency front, the Rupee rose for a second day today, largely helped by inflows related to a share sale and debt limit auction to foreigners. The partially convertible Rupee finally closed at 54.27, while the near month USD-INR future settled at 54.34 for the day.

On the international markets front, the Asian markets have closed on a mixed note, while the European markets have closed deep in the red, and the U.S. markets are also trading with losses as concern about Europe’s debt crisis overshadowed better than estimated American economic data. On the Energy futures front both the Brent and WTI crude oil futures are trading down by 1.08 & 0.95% at 107.55 & 92.64 $/bbl respectively, while the Natural Gas future is trading down by 1.0% at  3.92 $/MMBtu.