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Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2026

 

By Gopika Balasubramanium

 

MUMBAI – Traders added out-of-the-money call options in Wednesday's session, indicating a slightly positive outlook for the Nifty 50 after it rose for a third session in a bounceback from 2026's low. They also wrote put options below the spot level, indicating a reduced likelihood of a fall in the index. However, a rise in the index is likely to be limited, derivatives analysts said. Some expect the recent rise of the Nifty 50 to be sustained if there is not much negative news flow from West Asia. Though the index has bounced back, analysts are unwilling to call it a trend reversal just yet.

 

"Put writing along with some call addition was seen at multiple strikes and the put-call ratio is currently at 1.06, indicating a sideways session," Vipin Kumaar, assistant vice-president, technical and derivatives research, at Globe Capital Market, said. Technically, the Nifty 50 has reached the immediate resistance level of 23800 points and sustained trading below 23600 might drag it towards 23350 points, he said. "De-escalation in the Middle East (West Asia) is essential for a sustainable move beyond 24000 spot levels," Kumaar said.

 

Wednesday, the Nifty 50 rose 196.65 points, or 0.8%, to close at 23777.80 points. As of Friday, the index was down 8% from its closing level on Feb. 27, a day before Israel and the US launched a surprise attack on Iran, sparking the conflict in West Asia. Of the index's 50 constituents, 38 closed higher Wednesday. The BSE Sensex closed at 76704.13 points, up 633.29 points or 0.8%.

 

The highest concentration of open interest was seen at the 25000 call while the highest addition of open interest was in the call option at the 25200 strike price. On the put side, the highest concentration of open interest was at the 23700 strike while the highest addition of open interest was at the 21000 strike. Traders wrote put options at 23600-23700 strike prices, expecting the index to stabilise at these levels, or on the hope of some upside, Rajesh Palviya, head of research, technical and derivatives, at Axis Securities, said. In the near term, the Nifty 50 index will be in the range of 23600-24000 points, he added.

 

--Nifty 50 March closed at 23774.40, up 157.00 points; 3.4-point discount to the spot index

--Nifty 50 April closed at 23912.10, up 144.70 points; 134.3-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 24047.70, up 151.90 points; 269.9-point premium to the spot index

 

Multi Commodity Exchange of India, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Eternal, Reliance Industries, Waaree Energies, Bajaj Finance, Power Finance Corp., State Bank of India, BSE, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coforge, Axis Bank, InterGlobe Aviation, Dixon Technologies (India), and Vedanta were the most actively traded underlying stocks Wednesday.  End

 

US$1 = INR 92.63

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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