The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat Ambuja Cement in backwardation

THE futures & options segment saw restricted activity on the National Stock Exchange on Wednesday even as the settlement for March contracts expires on Thursday. Turnover at F&O segment was Rs 10,980 crore as against Tuesday's figure of Rs 13,145 crore. The volatile condition which prevailed at the market could be the major factor for lacklustre activity.

Index futures: The spot Nifty moved in a wide range of 24.25 points before settling for the day at 1692.10 as against Tuesday's close of 1696.40.

The Nifty March futures, which expire tomorrow, closed at 1694.05, a premium of 1.95 points over the Nifty spot close.

Open interest positions slipped by over 32 per cent to 22,226 contracts. The unmatched buy/sell order book on the NSE suggests sentiment tilted slightly positive as buy side orders were more than sell sides by 0.88 times.

The Nifty April futures finished at 1693.70, a premium of 1.60 points; open interest positions improved close to 53 per cent to 29,987 contracts, suggesting shifting of positions to April contracts from March contracts.

The farther month Nifty May futures also ended the day in premium to the spot close by 2.95 points at 1695.05.

Stock futures: The most active contracts among individual securities are Tata Steel, Reliance, Tata Motors, SBI and Satyam Computer.

The Tata Steel March futures closed the day at Rs 356.05 with open interest slipping by over 29 per cent to 5,322 contracts. This was a premium of about 0.35 paise in respect to the spot close of Rs 355.70. The unmatched order book suggests bearish outlook for the counter with sell side orders outnumbered the buy side by 2.66 times.

Rollover of positions to April futures was perceptible in Reliance, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Punjab National Bank, Polaris and Gujarat Ambuja Cement contracts.

Gujarat Ambuja Cement March contracts closed at Rs 291.7 with open interest slipping by over 56 per cent to 1,504 contracts.

Gujarat Ambuja April contracts closed with huge discount of 10.3 points at Rs 281.25 and open interest improved by over 100 per cent to 4,569 contracts. The spot on this counter closed at Rs 291.55. This means, the counter is in backwardation where the farther month contracts are selling lower than the near month contracts.