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Informist, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

 

By Simran Rede

 

MUMBAI – As the benchmark Nifty 50 hit an over three-week low, falling below 25200 points Friday, traders in the derivatives market continued to add downside bets in anticipation of more pain in the near term. Short positions were added to the index options chain, with premiums on out-of-the-money call options falling over 60% and those on puts rising more than 50%.

 

The pressure from bears is expected to persist next week amid global geopolitical uncertainty and a holiday-truncated week. The market is also expected to witness some volatility Monday due to the expiry of the weekly Nifty 50 derivatives contract. The contract will expire on Monday as the market will be shut Tuesday on the occasion of Holi.

 

The 50-stock index fell over 1% to its over-three-week closing low of 25178.65 points. The index fell below the psychologically important level of 25200 points. The near-term support for the index is now seen at 25000 points and resistance at 25300-25500 points. The index is expected to extend losses next week, but the fall is likely to be limited to 25000 points, technical analysts said.

 

Premiums on call options at 26000-25300 strike prices expiring Monday fell 48-79% and those on put contracts at 25150-25000 strikes more than doubled. The highest addition of open interest was at the 25400-point call and 23100-point put and the maximum concentration at the 26000-point call and 25000-point put. The futures contracts also hint at near-term pain for the index, with all three series--March, April, and May--showing further downside for the Nifty 50. The March contract closed 1.2% lower at 25341 points.

 

Amid the global woes triggered by US tariffs, foreign institutional investors are still short on the market despite some buying recently seen after optimism over the US-India trade deal, analysts said. "FIIs net short positions have been declining amid continued delivery buying suggest improving FIIs sentiments," ICICI Direct Research said in a report. Foreign investors sold nearly INR 35 billion worth of Indian equities on Thursday. 

 

--Nifty 50 March closed at 25341.00, down 294.80 points; 162.35-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 April closed at 25500.70, down 292.30 points; 322.05-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 25611.00, down 301.50 points; 432.35-point premium to the spot index

 

Infosys, Aditya Birla Capital, HDFC Bank, L&T Finance, ICICI Bank, Dixon Technologies (India), Bharti Airtel, BSE, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Eternal, Multi Commodity Exchange, AU Small Finance Bank, Bank of Baroda, Polycab India, Tata Consultancy Services, IDFC FIRST Bank, and Vedanta were the most actively traded underlying stocks Friday.  End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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