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Informist, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026

 

By Eshitva Prakash

 

MUMBAI – Long put options were in demand after the Nifty 50 fell for a second session, charting a course close to its immediate support at 24000 points. The monthly expiry of BSE Sensex derivatives and another sharp auction repricing in the headline indices added to bearish bets in the market. However, hefty institutional writing at the support levels indicates limited chances of the Nifty 50 breaching its support level.

 

The Nifty 50 will likely not fall below 24000 points and could even rally slightly in a slow-moving market, analysts said. However, a rise in premiums of put contracts expiring later than Tuesday reflects pessimism among traders. Call writers rotating their bets closer towards near-the-money call options also signals a bearish tilt. The lack of a peace deal between the US and Iran and a fluctuation in crude oil prices continue to keep traders' optimism in check. However, the recent fall in crude oil prices and long-term bond yields is supportive to lower inflation and, thus, to domestic equities, analysts said.

 

The Nifty 50 ended at 24090.85 points, down 0.5% from Wednesday. In the closing auction session, the headline index fell nearly 40 points, a fillip for overall losses. The Nifty 50 closed below its 20-, 50-, and 100-day double exponential moving average, signalling a bearish bias on the daily timeframe, Nandish Shah, deputy vice-president at HDFC Securities, said. A decisive fall in the Nifty 50 index below the previous swing low of 24025 points will confirm a positional trend reversal, he said.

 

Pharmaceutical, healthcare, and consumer durable stocks attracted defensive purchases while metal stocks faced the brunt of the selling. Broader markets also fell, tracking a decline in benchmark indices due to profit-taking. Investors also continued to monitor institutional flows and sectoral rotation while buoyant primary market activity as well as block deals kept markets range-bound amid the absence of fresh positive triggers, Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities, said in a note. 

 

Demand for the put contract at 24000 strike price rose significantly, with premiums more than doubling to INR 40.10. Some traders purchased puts as deep out-of-the-money as the 23500 strike price, albeit at relatively cheaper premiums. The premium for the 23800 strike price nearly doubled from Wednesday to INR 12.35. On the other side of the options chain, traders exited long call positions and also sold some long contracts. Premiums across 24300–24500 strike prices declined 60–70%.

 

Some traders also opened new deep-out-of-the-money short positions for contracts expiring Sept. 8 and on the monthly expiry day. For contracts expiring Sept. 8, premiums on put contracts across 23700 and 23800 strike prices rose nearly 90% and over 80%, respectively. The premium of the put contract with 23600 strike price rose over 8% to INR 22.50. For contracts expiring Sept. 29, premiums across 23000–23500 strike prices rose 30–50%.

 

--Nifty 50 September closed at 24266.00, down 163.10 points; 175.15-point premium to the spot index
--Nifty 50 October closed at 24393.00, down 169.00 points; 302.15-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 November closed at 24507.10, down 175.60 points; 416.25-point premium to the spot index

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Power, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Kalyan Jewellers India, LIC Housing Finance, and Laurus Labs were the most actively traded underlying stocks Thursday.  End

 

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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