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Informist, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

 

By Simran Rede

 

MUMBAI – Indian benchmark indices closed largely unchanged Thursday, following a roller-coaster session due to uncertainty over trade tariffs by the US. Traders added short positions on the call side of Nifty 50 derivatives while also adding slightly bullish positions on the put side.

 

There is caution in most global markets owing to the uncertainty over US trade tariffs and the outcome of the US–Iran nuclear talks. Investors booked profits at higher levels Thursday ahead of key data releases including US initial jobless claims and India's GDP print, Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said in a note.

 

Traders wrote call options along with put contracts at multiple strikes of the Nifty 50, which hints at further range-bound movement for the index. The put-call ratio for the current week expiry is 0.7, indicating a sell-on-rise trading approach, Vipin Kumar, a derivatives and technical analyst at Globe Capital Markets, said. He has pegged immediate support for the 50-stock index at 25300 points and resistance at 25650-25700 points for Friday.

 

The Nifty 50 ended almost flat at 25496.55 points. The Sensex also ended flat at 82248.61 points. The 50-stock index swung between negative and positive territory during the session. "Sentiment recovered in late trade following reports of meetings between Indian and US commerce officials, which rekindled hopes of progress in bilateral trade negotiations and made the market close flat," Nair said.

 

Weak domestic cues and uncertain global developments put pressure on the domestic market. The Indian government has not yet clarified whether the 18% tariff, decided under the India-US trade deal, will apply even after the US Supreme Court's ruling last week to strike down most tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in 2025.

 

In the options chain of the 50-stock index, premiums across options expiring Monday declined. Premiums on calls in the range of 25500-26000 fell 17-42% and those on 25400-25000 put contracts declined 30-41%. The maximum addition of open interest was at 25500 call and 25400 put, while the highest concentration was at 26000 call and 25000 put.

 

The futures contract of the index also closed higher for the second session. The March series of the index closed at a 140.45-point premium to the spot market and open interest rose over 1.4% to 13.15 million.

 

--Nifty 50 March closed at 25637.00, up 8.20 points; 140.45-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 April closed at 25796.40, up 4.60 points; 299.85-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 25916.00, up 10.30 points; 419.45-point premium to the spot index

 

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co., Eternal, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Multi Commodity Exchange, ICICI Bank, IDFC FIRST Bank, BSE, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Shriram Finance, and Tata Steel were the most actively traded underlying stocks Thursday.  End

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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