F&O Outlook: Unwinding in Nifty futures

The Nifty July futures traded in a narrow range of 80 points before ending up by 11 points at 4149. The trading volumes declined sharply from 824,462 contracts to 548,406 contracts.

Most of the trading in Nifty futures took place on an intra-day basis. The open interest in Nifty futures declined by 1.6 million shares due to unwinding of short positions.

The active stock futures such as Reliance Industries, Reliance Infra, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Communication, Cairn India, HDFC Bank and ONGC also reported a 25-50 per cent drop in trading volumes as players hesitated in carrying their positions forward.

Reliance Industries witnessed trading of 61,038 contracts against 95,391 contracts yesterday. The futures moved in a range of Rs 2037-2097 before settling at Rs 2,057.

The options data suggests that market participants bought call options at 4100-4300 strike prices, while unwinding positions at 4000 and 4500. The Nifty has a strong support at 4000, going by the unwinding in Call open interest at this strike price.

The unwinding of out-of-the-money (strike price exceeding the market price) calls at the strike price of 4500 indicates that Nifty may move above 4400 in the short term.