F&O Market: Union Bank, Dabur see short build-up as Nifty tumbles 300pts

Union Bank stock futures plunged nearly 8% on the back of 54% increase in OI. On the other hand, Dr. Lal Path Labs and Metropolis Health witnessed long build-up on Monday; shows derivatives data.

As many as 151 out of the 223 stocks traded in the futures & options segment were seen trading with losses in Monday's intra-day deals as the Nifty 50 index took a sharp knock.  As of 12:30 PM, the NSE Nifty 50 index was down 1.3 per cent or 300 points at 23,700 levels while its counterpart Nifty January futures also declined more than 1 per cent to 23,800 levels while the open interest (OI) rose by 1 per cent. The premium in Nifty futures dropped to Rs 100-odd levels.  Meanwhile, the February futures also registered 1 per cent dip in OI; while far-off March Nifty futures OI rose by 12. 6 per cent.  As per data from the NSE F&O segment, foreign institutional investors held nearly 5 short (bearish) positions in index futures for every long trade as of Friday, January 03. In comparison, retail investors held more than 2 long bets in index futures for every bearish trade.  Among individual shares, today, 4 stock futures contracts namely Union Bank, Dabur India, KEI Industries and Max Financial Services saw huge build-up of short positions. Union Bank, in particular, witnessed over 54 per cent jump in open interest (OI) while the stock tumbled nearly 8 per cent. The other 3 stocks - KEI, Max Financial and Dabur saw up to 10 per cent increase in OI while the stocks dipped in the range of 2-4 per cent each.    Among other prominent shares - JSW Energy, IRB, Supreme Industries, SJVN and Adani Green also saw notable build-up in OI amid a declining stock price trend; thus implying possible short build-up.  Meanwhile, notable long unwinding was visible at the ITC January counter as the stock traded ex-hotel business. ITC traded around Rs 450 levels, down 6.5 per cent while the OI plunged by 74 per cent in a single day. Among others, Ramco Cement, Angel One, IPCA Labs and Manappuram Finance also witnessed some long unwinding.  On the positive front, some long build-up was visible at Dr. Lal Path Labs counter as the stock rose 2.5 per cent backed by over 40 per cent increase in OI. Similarly, Metropolis Healthcare gained nearly 2 per cent on the back of over 19 per cent rise in OI.    Nykaa, Jubilant Foodworks, Mahindra & Mahindra Finance and Tata Consumer were few of the other counters with buying interest on Monday.  Meanwhile, RBL Bank, MphasiS and Bajaj Finance saw a dip in OI while the stocks inched higher in trades today; indicating possible closure of some short bets at these counters. Paytm too was up 1 per cent on the back of 2 per cent decline in OI.