Negative Nifty Pinches

Derivatives witnessed a decline following losses in the National Stock Exchange S&P CNX Nifty, and in spite of a rebound in the Bombay Stock Exchange sensex from morning lows.

While the sensex closed in positive territory, the Nifty ended marginally negative. Consequently Nifty futures, which were trading at a substantial premium to the underlying shares, today bridged the gap.

Nifty August futures ended 8.25 points lower at 975.60 as against a loss of 1.85 points in the S&P CNX Nifty at 971.65.

All the three contracts, however, finished at a premium. The implied cost of carry was positive indicating a firm undercurrent.

Volumes and open interest surged in all the three contracts with August Nifty registering a huge volume of 9553 contracts and open interest of 9831 contracts.

September Nifty futures also registered a higher volume of 254 contracts with an open interest position of 275 contracts.

The revival in the cash markets was reflected in the options segment too as calls dominated the trading. The put-call ratio fell to 0.28 (previous 0.48).

The most traded call options were at strikes 980, 990 and 1000. Put option at 980 was also actively traded with 167 trades.

The high interest in the OTM call options at strikes 1010, 1020 and 1040 is also indicative of the improving sentiment, dealers said.

Satyam Computer, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the top traded futures. The Satyam futures closed at a discount to the underlying with the sentiment turning negative at the counter.

Satyam dominated the trading in the options segment with seven strikes in the top ten traded options.

Reliance was the other contract that attracted high volumes. Satyam call at 240, Telco at 150 and Reliance call at 260 were the contracts with high open interest.