Nifty futures high-cost rollover seen bullish for April - dealers

Reuters Market Eye - While fiscal year-end commitments are making rollover of Nifty futures look weak in percentage terms, higher rollovers on absolute basis coupled with high roll cost indicates market participants are bullish for April series, dealers say.

"Local prop books have not been able to participate due to tied up balance-sheets ahead of fiscal year end but such high roll cost is actually bullish for the market," said a dealer at a foreign institutional broker.

"Nifty roll level was 58 points (cost to long rollers) mainly on the back of long aggression," broker Edelweiss said in a report on Thursday. Nifty futures rollovers at 45 percent as of Wednesday's close compared to average of 57 percent in the previous three series till February, Thomson Reuters calculations of NSE data show.

Also, Nifty outstanding positions in futures have increased by about 40 percent since February, NSE data shows.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)