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Informist, Wednesday, Aug 14, 2024

By Anshul Choudhary

MUMBAI – Options investors largely sold call and put options amid caution ahead of the widely followed US CPI data and trading holiday on Thursday. Sentiment was muted as positive global cues after lower-than-expected wholesale inflation data in the US, which boosted prospects of interest rate cuts, failed to lift indices significantly in India. 

The Nifty 50 closed marginally higher at 24143.75 points even as most of the indices in other regions in Asia, Europe, and the US closed relatively higher. All eyes are now on the US CPI data for July, scheduled later today, which will help assess the interest rate trajectory in the country. The CPI in the US is expected to rise 0.2% in July from June, and 3% on year, Reuters said. 

Positioning in options suggests the Nifty 50 is likely to stay in a range. Significant open interest addition was seen near at-the-money strike prices, a technical and derivatives analyst with a top brokerage firm said. "Action in derivatives was muted today...it looks like market is going to be rangebound till it breaches 23900-24300 levels," the analyst said.

For contracts expiring next week, premiums across call options fell. The highest open interest addition was at 25000-25500 calls, followed by 24200-24250 calls. Premiums at 24200 calls fell 31 rupees to 160 rupees, and that of 24400 calls fell by 31 rupees to 76 rupees.

On the put side, traders sold at-the-money and out-of-the-money puts, while some buying was seen in deep in-the-money puts. The highest open interest addition was seen at 23000-23200 puts. Significant open interest addition was seen at 24000-24200 puts as well. Premiums at 24000 puts fell 40 rupees to 115 rupees, and that of 24200 puts declined 44 rupees to 195 rupees. 

The August futures contract of the Nifty 50 closed at a premium of 26.70 points to the spot index. Open interest in the contract fell nearly 3% to 11.64 mln, according to provisional data.

--Nifty 50 Aug closed at 24170.45, up 9.45 points; 26.70-point premium to spot index

--Nifty 50 Sep closed at 24308.00, up 15.80 points; 164.25-point premium to spot index

--Nifty 50 Oct closed at 24436.50, up 6 points; 292.75-point premium to spot index

HDFC Bank, HeroMoto Corp, Tata Steel, Vedanta, ICICI Bank, NMDC, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, Coal India, Piramal Enterprises, and Samvardhana Motherson International were among the most-actively traded underlying contracts.  End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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