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Informist, Thursday, Mar. 19, 2026

 

By Simran Rede

 

MUMBAI – With the benchmark Nifty 50 hitting an 11-month closing low Thursday after rising for the previous three sessions, traders in the derivatives market added 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% while those on puts rose more than 200-300%.

 

The 50-stock index fell 3.6% to an 11-month low of 22930.35 points, below the psychologically important level of 23000 points, but came slightly off the low to close 3.3% down at 23002.15 points. The index plunged as the hostilities in West Asia escalated and crude oil prices rose sharply. Near-term support for the index is now seen at 22700-22500 points and resistance at 23350-23450 points.

 

The Nifty 50 is likely to continue falling Friday. For the first time since the conflict began Feb. 28, Hezbollah Wednesday fired missiles from Lebanon towards southern Israel, an estimated distance of around 124 miles, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing officials from the Iran-backed militant group and the Israeli military. One of the missiles fell in an open area in southern Israel and another in Gaza, the report said, quoting the Israeli military officer.

 

Qatar early Thursday said Iranian ballistic missiles had caused extensive damage to its Ras Laffan industrial area, which houses a major hub for liquefied natural gas, according to The Wall Street Journal. The strikes were in response to an attack by Israel on a large Iranian gas field, South Pars, which prompted Iran's president to warn of "uncontrollable consequences, the scope of which could engulf the entire world", according to the report.

 

Following this, the May futures contract of Brent Crude rose to $119.13 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. At 1648 IST, it was up 6.1% at $113.91 per barrel. India VIX, the market's fear gauge, soared almost 22% to end at 22.8025, up after declining for three sessions.

 

Premiums on call options at 23500-25000 strike prices expiring Tuesday fell 49-76% while those on put contracts at 23000-20950 strikes rose 155-361%. The highest addition of open interest was at the 23300-point call and 22000-point put. The maximum concentraition of open interest was at the 25000-point call and the 21000-point put contract.

 

The futures contracts also hint at near-term pain for the index, with all three series--March, April, and May--showing addition of short positions. The March contract closed 2.7% lower at 23125.70 points with its open interest rising over 3% to 17.98 million.

 

--Nifty 50 March closed at 23125.70, down 650.70 points; 123.55-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 April closed at 23270.00, down 652.70 points; 267.85-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 23410.90, down 640.70 points; 408.75-point premium to the spot index

 

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

 

US$1 = INR 92.63

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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