Derivatives Lose Ground

Derivatives fell after the cash market plunged to its 8-month low following a slump in the US markets. Technology pivotals Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computer and HCL Tech led the decline and the impact was witnessed in futures and options also.

In futures, all the three Nifty futures contracts finished at a premium to the underlying. Nifty July eroded 14.60 points to end at 1008.05 against a loss of 17.85 points in S&P CNX Nifty at 1004.05 points. Nifty August futures lost 14.45 points at 1011.35 points and September August closed with a loss of 14.80 points at 1016.40.

With the July contract expiring tomorrow, there was a decline in open interest position at 3,343 contracts amid a volume of 4,612 contracts.

Volumes and open interest in the Nifty August contracts rose at 3,308 and 5,406 contracts, respectively.

Among the index options, August calls were active with tomorrow being the expiry for the July contract. Despite, the market closing lower, the put-call ratio was almost unchanged at to 0.64 (previous 0.65), which is still on the higher side indicating that the down side may still not be over. Nifty August call at 1020, 1000 and July put option at 1030 were the top traded options.

Among stock futures and options, Satyam, Reliance and Infosys were the top traded futures.

Infosys futures, however, closed at a premium to the underlying pointing towards a small pull-back from Wednesday's selling. Most of the stock futures closed at small premiums to the underlying. In the options segment, the top six traded options were of Satyam.

Satyam July put at 220 was the highest traded. BPCL July call at 300 was the other contract that attracted good amount of interest.