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Informist, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026

 

By Eshitva Prakash

 

MUMBAI – Traders built long positions on the options chain of the Nifty 50 as a fall in crude oil price improved sentiment in the market. While high volatility on monthly expiry of options contracts Tuesday kept a lid on gains for most of the session, a swift recovery in the final hour of trading forced call sellers to take cover. Fresh long call positions for contracts expiring Sept. 1 indicate improving market sentiment, but heavy selling around spot levels is likely to lead to a slow-moving market.

 

Tuesday, the Nifty 50 ended at 24334.55 points, up 0.5%. A sizeable decline in the October futures contract of Brent crude oil intraday supported a rise in the underlying index. At 1655 IST, the Brent crude oil October futures contract traded 3% lower at $89.50 per barrel as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's fresh sanctions on Iran were not enough to faze traders, who were expecting more severe action by Washington, analysts said. 

 

Traders rushed to cover short positions after the Nifty 50 rose sharply in the final hour, leading to a gamma blast on at-the-money strike prices for contracts that expired Tuesday. A sharp increase in the Nifty 50 level after the closing auction session from its post-continuous trading level also sparked long call purchases. Mirroring this last-second rise, the August futures contract of the headline index rose nearly 70 points in an hour to close at 24333.50 points. A rise in stocks of healthcare majors and crude-sensitive companies supported the headline index, while select energy and metal stocks dragged.

Traders purchased out-of-the-money call contracts, resulting in a sharp rise in premiums for contracts up to 24800 strike price. The value of the 24400-24600 strike prices increased by 40–50%. Further out-of-the-money contracts expiring Sept. 1 were sold, which indicates expectations of a small rise in the coming week. However, the options chain also shows long additions for contracts expiring later in the month at strike prices higher than 25000 points. While this, along with a rise in the price of Nifty 50 September futures, indicates a slightly bullish market view for next month, Vipin Kumar, assistant vice-president of research at Globe Capital Market, said the provisional rollover data for the Nifty 50 index is similar to the past three months' average rollover. This implies the rollovers mark a continuing trend rather than buying momentum.

 

"Technically, the benchmark Nifty index breached its past six-day-long congestion range of 300 points on the higher side in the last second tick," Kumar said. Going ahead, sustained trading above 24320 spot level Wednesday could lead the index towards the 24450–24480 spot zone. A fall below 24250 points could strengthen the chances of further consolidation in the near term, he said.

 

On the other side of the options chain, traders wrote put contracts across strike prices, reinforcing a positive view of the market. Owing to the heavy selling, premiums on 24200 strike price declined 64% and those on 24100 strike fell over 68%. Even expensive near-the-money put contracts lost a part of their value during the session. The highest put base at 24200, followed by the 24100 strike, indicates where the Nifty 50 is likely to find support in the near term. The highest call base at 24500 strike price indicates the resistance level for the 50-stock index.

 

--Nifty 50 September closed at 24485.20, up 161.10 points; 150.65-point premium to the spot index
--Nifty 50 October closed at 24611.20, up 169.30 points; 276.65-point premium to the spot index

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Vodafone Idea, Steel Authority of India, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Infosys, One 97 Communications, Jio Financial Services, and Adani Enterprises were the most actively traded underlying stocks Tuesday.  End

 

US$1 = INR 95.41

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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