More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2026

 

By Eshitva Prakash

 

MUMBAI – There was heavy build-up of open interest around the spot levels of the Nifty 50, indicating the possibility of range-bound movement for the benchmark index in the near term. Traders relentlessly sold deep-out-of-the-money put and call contracts, shifting their positions instead to call options near the spot level, thus showing expectations of a limited upside and downside risk for the 50-stock index.

 

Not a lot of traders were willing to hold their contracts into the next trading day because volatility is quite likely based on news flows, an analyst at a domestic brokerage said. Wednesday, the Nifty 50 ended at 24078.50 points, up just 26.45 points from Tuesday. Several short positions were liquidated after the Nifty 50 opened higher after US President Donald Trump dropped his plan to impose a tariff of 20% on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Traders, however, soon took profits at higher levels, leading to a sharp dip in the 50-stock index intraday, forcing several put holders to cover their short positions.

 

Call options at the 24200 strike price were in heavy demand, with open interest rising by more than 5 million contracts to 9.30 million contracts. Additionally, traders added call options at the 24100 strike price. However, they sold deep out-of-the-money call contracts across 24300-25000 strike prices, with the premium on the 25000 call contract falling almost 20%.

 

"Call writing along with put writing was seen at multiple strikes with fresh writing at 24200 CE (call) and 24100 PE (put)," Vipin Kumar, assistant vice-president at Globe Capital Market, said. "PCR (put-call-ratio) for current week expiry is around 0.8, implying slightly negative bias in short term."

 

Traders sold put options across strike prices with higher selling at deep out-of-the-money put contracts throughout the session. The open interest on the 23000 put option rose by over 2 million contracts to over 7 million contracts. The next highest open interest on the put side was at the 24000 strike price. Premiums on put options expecting the Nifty 50 below the 23700 level also declined sharply.

 

Reflecting the trend towards volatility, the options chain in the Nifty Bank index swung in favour of the bulls yet again after indicating a rough week earlier. Call contracts up to 60000 points were popular with traders, but premiums on deep out-of-the-money call contracts declined slightly. Traders covered their short positions and sold put options at out-of-the-money levels. Wednesday, the Nifty Bank index ended 0.5% higher at 57757.85 points.

 

Two information technology majors, Tech Mahindra and Wipro, will release their June quarter earnings Thursday. Traders unwound their long positions in Wipro and sold in-the-money call contracts across strike prices up to INR 200. They also bought put options across INR 150–INR 170 levels. The Bengaluru-based information technology services company is expected to report a marginal sequential decline in consolidated net profit for the June quarter to INR 34.37 billion. Its consolidated revenues for the quarter are likely to grow 2.4% sequentially to INR 248.19 billion. Wednesday, shares of the company ended at INR 174.65 on the National Stock Exchange, down 1.4% from Tuesday.

 

On the flip side, traders have added bullish positions in Tech Mahindra derivatives. There was buying in out-of-the-money call contracts with strike prices up to INR 1,624. They covered their short positions on the stock heavily, pushing premiums of INR 1,520 call contract higher by 38%. They sold put contracts across INR 1,400-INR 1,480 strikes. Wednesday, shares of the company ended almost 1% higher at INR 1,498.70 on the NSE. The company is likely to outshine its peers during the June quarter, several brokerages said. Tech Mahindra's consolidated net profit for the reporting quarter is expected to rise around 18% sequentially to INR 15.96 billion. Its top line is seen rising 2.5% sequentially to INR 154.54 billion.

 

--Nifty 50 July closed at 24072.00, up 47.80 points; 6.50-point discount to the spot index

--Nifty 50 August closed at 24175.00, up 55.00 points; 96.50-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 September closed at 24322.20, up 55.80 points; 243.70-point premium to the spot index

 

Union Bank of India, Patanjali Foods, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Kalyan Jewellers India, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HDFC Bank, and Bharat Heavy Electricals were the most actively traded underlying stocks Wednesday.  End

 

Reported by Eshitva Prakash

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.