Nifty may face strong resistance above 3,400

Futures & options (F&O) traders On Thursday sold 3,300 strike put and 3,400 strike call options, indicating that they expected the Nifty to trade between 3,300 and 3,400 in the near future. A fresh writing of Nifty put or call options at certain strike prices suggests support or resistance levels for the Index.

On Thursday trading pattern in Nifty options also suggested that the index might not climb to 200-DMA (daily moving average) level of 3,443 as long traders booked profit in 3,400-3,600 strike calls when the index was hovering around 3,400 levels. The traders went short in these 3,400-3,600 strike calls at the index level of 3,350.

However, the support for the Nifty is seen at 3,300 levels as the 3,300 strike put added an open interest (OI) of 1.27 million through selling of put options. Also, F&O traders were seen hedging their long positions through buying 3,400 put options, which suggested that the index had a strong resistance above 3,400 levels.

The Nifty April futures added an OI of 2.50 million shares during the intraday trade despite a trading volume of 43.60 million shares, indicating that traders were booking profit at higher levels. However, the April futures added an OI of 1.07 million shares towards the end of the day and closed at a premium of 12 points to the spot, indicating fresh long build-up at lower levels.