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Informist, Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

 

By Simran Rede

 

MUMBAI – News of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran came as a relief to Indian equities, with traders aggressively adding long positions in the Nifty 50 derivatives Wednesday. A sharp fall in crude oil prices added to the bullish sentiment, lifting the spot index up nearly 4%, analysts said.

 

Premiums on call contracts skyrocketed over six times, while those on put options fell as much as 100%, implying strong bullish sentiment in the market. Many call writers squared off their bearish bets in the Nifty 50's weekly options that will expire on Monday, and put writers continued selling. This indicates that some participants likely expect the index to inch higher Thursday and may test 24300-24700 points in the coming sessions, derivatives analysts said. The current active contract will expire on Monday as the market is shut on Tuesday for Ambedkar Jayanti.

 

In the spot market, the Nifty 50 closed 873.70 points or 3.8% higher at 23997.35 points Wednesday. The BSE Sensex settled 2946.32 points or 4% higher at 77562.90 points.

 

In futures, investors unwound some bearish bets Wednesday as the April futures contract closed over 4% higher at a near-90-point premium to spot level with its open interest falling 4.5% to 20.60 million. Some short covering was also seen in the May futures contract, with its premium rising over 4% and open interest falling over 2%.

 

The Nifty 50 and the Sensex rebounded Wednesday after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in Iran. Most global equity markets gained after the news. Volatility in the domestic market eased substantially with the India VIX, the fear gauge of equities, ending more than 20% lower at 19.6975, a three-week low. Premiums on the Nifty 50's weekly put options fell 80-100%, with 23900 and 23000 strike prices being sold the most.

 

Among the call options, short bets in most in-the-money strikes were closed but deeper out-of-the-money strikes were aggressively bought. The 25000 and 24500 strike price call options saw the maximum volumes. 

 

The options market signals a bullish outlook, with increased call buying compared to puts. The put-call ratio stands at 1.20, indicating improved sentiment and short-covering bias, Dhupesh Dhameja, derivatives research analyst at SAMCO Securities, said in a note.

 

--Nifty 50 April closed at 24087.10, up 936.00 points; 89.75-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 24218.00, up 934.50 points; 220.65-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 June closed at 24360.00, up 907.80 points; 362.65-point premium to the spot index

 

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, InterGlobe Aviation, BSE, Shriram Finance, Infosys, Ashok Leyland, Axis Bank, Titan Co., Maruti Suzuki India, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Tata Consultancy Services and Dixon Technologies (India) were the most actively traded underlying stocks Wednesday.  End

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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