Derivatives Rally Continues

The derivatives markets consolidated Monday's gains and ended higher for the second consecutive day in line with the movement in the cash market. The futures segment with the Nifty contracts major gains albeit amid modest volumes in the near month June contract. However, the open interest climbed and all the three contracts closed at a premium to the cash markets.

S&P CNX Nifty increased by 5.65 points at 1045.40 points, while the Nifty June futures closed 3.95 points at 1051, commanding a premium over the spot market. The open interest at 3859 contracts surpassed the traded volume of 3,405 contracts. Similarly, Nifty July futures closed higher by 2.70 points at 1054 and the open interest at 362 contracts was more than double the volume of 164 contracts. Nifty August continued to languish with only 18 contracts of trading even when it closed marginally higher by 1 point at 1055.90. In the options on the index, Nifty June call at 1040 was the most traded paper. The most active puts were at strikes 1040 and 1010. Open interest was the highest in the 1060 call option.

On the BSE derivatives segment only the near month June contract attracted trades with nil trading in the July and August contracts. Sensex June closed sharply higher by 64.90 points at 3208, the Sensex June futures closed at 3191.60, up by 30.51 points. The futures traded at a premium over the spot Sensex amid a lower volume of 1050 contracts and an open interest of meagre 300 contracts.

In the options segment, M&M put option at 90 and Bajaj call option at 500 were the gained maximum premium. L&T call option at 210 was the biggest loser. Satyam call option at 240 topped the stock with open interest. In stock futures, Satyam, Reliance and Infosys were the most active contracts followed by BPCL and HPCL. The top gainers were HLL July contract followed by MTNL and HLL June contracts.