Informist, Friday, Mar 24, 2023

By Maitri Seth

MUMBAI – Traders sold Nifty 50 call options near the 17000-point strike price and bought put options at around these levels on expectations that weakness in Indian equities will persist next week. Analysts believe there is nothing to suggest an uptrend in the next few sessions, with the negative global sentiments dominating the Indian market.

The 17000 levels of the Nifty 50 are seen as crucial resistance, however, the support levels are hard to estimate as the sentiment is so bearish, said Raj Deepak Singh, technical and derivative analyst at ICICI Securities.

However, Amol Athawalwe, technical analyst at Kotak Securities said, "As long as the Nifty is trading below 17100, the weak sentiment is likely to continue and below the same the index could fall up to 16700".

Today, the Nifty 50 closed below the psychologically-crucial level of 17000 points at 16945.05, 0.8% lower.

On concerns of further bearishness, maximum open interest buildup was seen in the Nifty 50 call options at 17000-point levels, premiums on which fell 51% to 83 rupees. Heavy selling was also seen at call options of 17100-17650 levels, whose premiums fell 58-66%. 

Meanwhile, on the put side, traders bought options near the 17000 strike price as they anticipate the Nifty 50 to trade below these levels. Premiums on these levels surged 72.5% to 145.10 rupees. Heavy buying was also seen at put bets of 16500-16900 levels, where premiums rose 50-78%. Significant selling was also seen around deeper in-the-money put bets of 16300 and 16400 points. 

Analysts are of the view that foreign investors still carry a bearish sentiment and hold record high short positions in the derivatives space. "FII short positions are the highest since 2013. Unless these short positions are not closed, no consistent bullish momentum is possible," added Singh. He further said the monthly derivatives expiry due Wednesday will fuel selling.

On the futures front, the March futures contract of the Nifty 50 closed at a discount of 7.05 points to the spot index today. Open interest was nearly flat at 11.6 mln, as per provisional data. 

--Nifty 50 Mar closed at 16938.00, down 149.50 points; 7.05-point discount to spot index

--Nifty 50 Apr closed at 17031.55, down 154.10 points; 86.5-point premium to spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 17100.00, down 99.80 points; 154.95-point premium to spot index

The total turnover in the futures and options segment of the National Stock Exchange was 136.44 trln rupees today, as against 424.77 trln rupees on Thursday.

The turnover in index options was 132.26 trln rupees, compared with 421.36 trln rupees in the previous session. The total premium turnover of index and stock options was 636.36 bln rupees, compared with 736.78 bln rupees on Thursday.

Reliance Industries, Adani Enterprises, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, and State Bank of India were among the most actively traded underlying stocks.  End

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

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.

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Informist, Friday, Mar 24, 2023

By Maitri Seth

MUMBAI – Traders sold Nifty 50 call options near the 17000-point strike price and bought put options at around these levels on expectations that weakness in Indian equities will persist next week. Analysts believe there is nothing to suggest an uptrend in the next few sessions, with the negative global sentiments dominating the Indian market.

The 17000 levels of the Nifty 50 are seen as crucial resistance, however, the support levels are hard to estimate as the sentiment is so bearish, said Raj Deepak Singh, technical and derivative analyst at ICICI Securities.

However, Amol Athawalwe, technical analyst at Kotak Securities said, "As long as the Nifty is trading below 17100, the weak sentiment is likely to continue and below the same the index could fall up to 16700".

Today, the Nifty 50 closed below the psychologically-crucial level of 17000 points at 16945.05, 0.8% lower.

On concerns of further bearishness, maximum open interest buildup was seen in the Nifty 50 call options at 17000-point levels, premiums on which fell 51% to 83 rupees. Heavy selling was also seen at call options of 17100-17650 levels, whose premiums fell 58-66%. 

Meanwhile, on the put side, traders bought options near the 17000 strike price as they anticipate the Nifty 50 to trade below these levels. Premiums on these levels surged 72.5% to 145.10 rupees. Heavy buying was also seen at put bets of 16500-16900 levels, where premiums rose 50-78%. Significant selling was also seen around deeper in-the-money put bets of 16300 and 16400 points. 

Analysts are of the view that foreign investors still carry a bearish sentiment and hold record high short positions in the derivatives space. "FII short positions are the highest since 2013. Unless these short positions are not closed, no consistent bullish momentum is possible," added Singh. He further said the monthly derivatives expiry due Wednesday will fuel selling.

On the futures front, the March futures contract of the Nifty 50 closed at a discount of 7.05 points to the spot index today. Open interest was nearly flat at 11.6 mln, as per provisional data. 

--Nifty 50 Mar closed at 16938.00, down 149.50 points; 7.05-point discount to spot index

--Nifty 50 Apr closed at 17031.55, down 154.10 points; 86.5-point premium to spot index

--Nifty 50 May closed at 17100.00, down 99.80 points; 154.95-point premium to spot index

The total turnover in the futures and options segment of the National Stock Exchange was 136.44 trln rupees today, as against 424.77 trln rupees on Thursday.

The turnover in index options was 132.26 trln rupees, compared with 421.36 trln rupees in the previous session. The total premium turnover of index and stock options was 636.36 bln rupees, compared with 736.78 bln rupees on Thursday.

Reliance Industries, Adani Enterprises, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, and State Bank of India were among the most actively traded underlying stocks.  End

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

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. 2023. All rights reserved.