Date:05/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/05/stories/2008090552441500.htm

Back Bank Nifty futures turn active

Our Bureau

Chennai, Sept. 4 The F&O segment on Thursday witnessed a turnover of Rs 46,290.5 crore against Tuesday’s turnover of Rs 58,889.38 crore, but still that was higher than the average recorded in the last four months. The Nifty September closed at 4460 against the spot close of 4447.15. It added about 20.3 lakh shares or 6 per cent in open interest positions.

Among the options, 4500 call and 4300 put were the most active. The other active options were 4600 call, 4400 put and 4400 call. Among them, 4500 call and 4600 call added about 9.75 lakh shares (or 48 per cent) and 10 lakh shares (64 per cent) in open interest positions. The 4300 put saw an accumulation of 8.46 lakh shares or 22 per cent in open interest. While call saw the option buyers, particularly 4500, the 4300 put witnessed the emergence of put writers (according to the un-matched bid/ask order book). This indicates that the Nifty faces strong support at 4300 and also the underlying optimism in the market.

The NSE volatility index or India VIX, which measures the immediate expected volatility of the market, inched up to 31.23 against the previous week close of 30.45.

Bank Futures

The Bank Nifty futures turned very active. The September future ended at 6539 against the spot close of 6494.65. It added 99,179 shares or 23 per cent in open interest positions. It suggests that a few traders expected softening of inflation numbers.

Banking counters – State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank – also added long open positions. The SBI future ended at 1538.8 against the spot close of 1534.7, ICICI Bank at 724 (716.65) and HDFC Bank future at 1309.85 (1303.35).

The unmatched bid/ask order book of most stock futures saw the emergence of sellers, as traders were not sure of price movement.

FII activity

Foreign institutional investors offloaded heavily in the F&O segment on Thursday; they were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,935.39 crore. They were net sellers of index futures worth Rs 1,337.4 crore and stock futures Rs 832 crore.