Sensex ends with modest loss ahead of expiry day

The Nifty snapped a three-day winning streak and closed marginally lower amid volatility, ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday. Traders looked cautious today, after seeing run-up in the previous three days. The Nifty was unable to hold the 5200 level as markets had witnessed lot of supply around this level.

Sandeep J Shah, CEO, Sampriti Capital said the Nifty was not going to sustain above the 5,200 mark. "The very fact that the Nifty is not able to sustain above 5,200, given that on an optimistic basis the market is trading at about 16 times – optimistic 1,100 earning per share (EPS) if you take – its trading more than 16 times, which means that lot of largecaps are so expensive that there is continuous selling pressure that's happening. On the flip side, we have been seeing select midcaps and smallcaps have been doing well because there is relative value in that space. So at this stage I am not calling for the market to sustain over 5,200, if it did however I would take a re-look."

There was some bit of selling pressure again in the late trade due to weak European cues. European markets were trading 0.3-0.6% lower and the US index futures were down 0.3-0.4%, at the time of closing of Indian equities. Asian markets closed mixed; Shanghai rose 1.6%. Jakarta, Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted gained 0.35-0.7%. However, Nikkei lost 0.86% and Hang Seng was flat.

The sell-off in capital goods, metal, oil & gas exploration and select private financial companies' shares along with ITC, Hero Honda, Sun Pharma and Reliance Communications exerted pressure on the markets. However, buying in realty, cement, select auto and power stocks along with SBI and HUL limited the losses to major extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,343.82, down 57.74 points, after seeing an intraday high of 17,440.05 and low of 17,322.80. The 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 18.50 points or 0.36%, to settle at 5,169.45, it traded in a range of 5,160.10-5,197.05.

The December futures will expire tomorrow. The Nifty rollovers were lower than recent average. The Nifty January futures ended with significant premium of 7.6 points. The Nifty 5200 Put shed 22 lakh shares in OI (open interest). Among the stocks, Hotel Leela's January OI was up 51% and Indian Hotels' Jan OI up 65%. India Cement, Cairn and Reliance Power witnessed 74-78% rollover.