Informist, Wednesday, Feb 23, 2022
By Ankika Biswas
MUMBAI– Rollover of positions in Nifty 50 to the upcoming March derivatives series is lower than the three- and six-month averages so far. This indicates lack of conviction among investors to carry forward their positions as they struggle for cues on market trajectory.
The domestic equity market has been subject to sharp swings of late owing to developments around the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Results of Assembly elections in several states, the Reserve Bank of India’s meeting minutes and the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting are few other factors investors will keep in mind while rolling over their positions.
Around 45% positions in Nifty 50 have been rolled over to the March series as per provisional data. According to analysts, there’s no clear trend in the rollover action as lack of clarity on market direction has been plaguing investors.
Analysts believe that the Nifty 50 may settle in the range of 17000-17200 points, preferably around the 17100-mark, following the expiry of the current monthly derivative series. However, in case of any major negative developments, unwinding of positions by put option writers may push the index to 16850 points.
Selling at the 17200-strike price call option suggest that the index’s upmove is restricted to that level, while selling at the 17000-strike put option suggests the formation of a support base at that level. Open interest in February futures contract rose nearly 13% today.
Falling for the sixth straight session today, the Nifty 50 has lost nearly 2% during the period as ongoing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine affect investor sentiment. Today, the index has closed 0.2% lower at 17063.25 points, after traversing in green for the majority of the session and testing an intra-day high of 17220.70 points.
However, the rollover of positions in Nifty Bank was almost in line with the three-month average, with rollover of mostly long positions seen in select banks such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, and AU Small Finance Bank.
The index closed flat at 37392.05 points, after testing an intra-day high of 37774.60 points.
Another sector that witnessed strong rollovers was the cement pack–including stocks like Ambuja Cements, The Ramco Cements, and Grasim Industries–that were mostly on the short side.
–Nifty 50 Feb ended at 17067.85, down 5.75 points; 4.60-point premium to spot index
–Nifty 50 Mar ended at 17114.80, down 3.35 points; 51.55-point premium to spot index
–Nifty 50 Apr ended at 17177.50, up 8.05 points; 114.25-point premium to spot index
The total turnover in the futures and options segment of the National Stock Exchange was 88.30 trln rupees as compared to 79.7 trln rupees on Tuesday.
The turnover in index options was 84.81 trln rupees against 74.8 trln rupees in the previous session. The total premium turnover of index and stock options was 341.63 bln rupees compared with 453.5 bln rupees on Tuesday.
The most actively traded underlying stocks were ICICI Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, SBI, and Housing Development Finance Corp. End
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
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Source: Cogencis
