Informist, Monday, Dec 13, 2021

By Vivek Kumar

MUMBAI – Premiums of major out-of-the-money call options of Axis Bank more than doubled today as the stock rose over 2% in a weak market where most of the constituents of the Nifty Bank index ended lower. 

The gains in the stock came amid reports that Goldman Sachs had upgraded its rating on the stock to 'buy' from 'neural' with a target price of 920 rupees, citing attractive valuations.

The stock ended above 700 rupees for the first time in 16 sessions as it rose 2.3% to close at 704 rupees. Open interest in the stock's December futures rose 5.5% to 57.37 mln, as per provisional data.

The stock's sustenance above 700 rupees is a positive sign and should open the gates for higher targets of 750-760 rupees in the coming sessions, ICICI Securities said in its report.

Premiums of the 720, 730, 740 and 750-rupee call options of the stock more than doubled today, following the rise in cash market. Even the deep-out-of-the-money call options of 820 and 830 rupees witnessed their premiums rising sharply. Meanwhile, the premiums of major put options fell.

Axis Bank was among the very few gainers in the market today as only 14 Nifty 50 stocks managed to end in the green. Consequently, the Nifty 50 closed 0.8% lower at 17368.25 points.

In the benchmark index's options, the 17600-point call option premium fell nearly 50% and it witnessed the maximum addition of open interest. Among put options, the 17000-point strike price contract witnessed the maximum addition of open interest with its premium falling over 10%.

Analysts now see support for the Nifty 50 at 17200 points after it fell below 17400 points today.

-–Nifty 50 Dec ended at 17462.00, down 97.35 points; 93.75-point premium to spot index

-–Nifty 50 Jan ended at 17518.00, down 95.15 points; 149.75-point premium to spot index

-–Nifty 50 Feb ended at 17553.30, down 95.15 points; 185.05-point premium to spot index

The total turnover in the futures and options segment of the NSE was 57.7 trln rupees today, compared with 37.9 trln rupees on Friday.

The turnover in index options was at 54.9 trln rupees against 35.3 trln rupees the previous day. The total premium turnover of index and stock options was at 289.2 bln rupees compared with 227.2 bln rupees on Friday.

Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Tata Power Co, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, ITC Ltd, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharti Airtel were some of the most actively traded underlying stocks.  End

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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