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Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2026

 

By Simran Rede

 

MUMBAI – After making smart gains Wednesday even in the midst of concerns of an escalation of the military conflict in West Asia, traders added some cautious bets in the Nifty 50 derivatives, indicating a slight rise in the benchmark index Friday. Market participants refrained from placing larger bets because of the break in trading on account of Thursday's holiday for Ram Navmi.

 

Investors continued to buy out-of-the-money monthly call contracts expiring Monday as the Nifty 50 rose for the second day, gaining 3.5% over this period. However, the index is still down more than 7% since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, sparking the conflict in West Asia.

 

The 50-stock index rose as crude oil prices fell on reports that the US is seeking a month-long ceasefire and has sent a peace plan to Tehran for discussion. However, it is still unclear whether Iran, which has so far denied any talks with the US, would accept the plan as a starting point for negotiations. The benchmark index gained 1.7% Wednesday to close at 23306.45 points.

 

Premiums on 24800-25000 call strikes, which are 6–7% higher than the spot level, fell 24-30% while those on strikes below these levels rose. Premiums across out-of-the-money put contracts more than halved. The maximum addition of open interest was at the 24500-strike call and the 20000-strike put contract.

 

On the put side, premiums across strike prices fell, mirroring the bullish sentiment in the market. The 20000 strike price had the highest net change in open interest with over 15 million new positions while its premium fell 62% to INR 3.25. Additionally, some aggressive put selling was seen at 21000-23000 strike prices.

 

Going forward, analysts expect the Nifty 50 to consolidate at the current levels with a positive bias. The 50-stock index is expected to find support at 23000 points and face resistance at 23400-23800 points.

 

--Nifty 50 March closed at 23310.10, up 381.70 points; 3.65-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 April closed at 23445.00, up 289.10 points; 138.55-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 23555.00, up 370.70 points; 248.55-point premium to the spot index

 

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Shriram Finance, Bharat Electronics, Maruti Suzuki India, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, and Eternal were the most actively traded underlying stocks Wednesday.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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