Beating A Retreat

All the three Nifty futures settled at a discount to the underlying index. The September Nifty settled at 984, down 8.10 points, while the National Stock Exchange S&P CNX Nifty settled at 998.55, up 3.35 points.

Volumes were lower in the September Nifty contract. Open interest also fell. The October Nifty witnessed a small rise in open interest, which indicates that players are not too optimistic in the short term.

In index options, the put-call ratio fell to 0.63 compared with 0.88 on Friday indicating that players are hopeful that the fall may be stemmed.

The highest volumes were in the Nifty September call at 990 with 234 contracts traded.

In stock futures, Satyam Computer continued to be the top traded scrip with 8547 contracts.

Refinery majors HPCL and BPCL fell nearly 20 per cent. Digital Equipment closed at a huge discount to the underlying share after staying firm for most part of the day.

In stock options, HPCL and BPCL were active. The BPCL call at Rs 220 was the top traded paper with 713 contracts.

The action in Rs 240 and Rs 260 strikes indicates that players are hoping that the fall will be stemmed. HPCL call at Rs 220 and Rs 240 were also busy.