The Hindu Business Line : Nifty futures witness sharp fall

Chennai, Dec. 17 Nifty future saw one of its worst day as it tumbled 4.62 per cent at 5,791 against Friday’s close of 6,071.8. Despite a sharp fall, Nifty December future added 13.4 per cent in open interest and ended with a premium of 14 points with respect to the spot close. Nifty January future, however, ended with a premium of 2.9 points, and added 50 per cent in open interest positions.

Monday’s trading volume stood at Rs 73,373 crore, which is the highest in December so far.

Activity picked up in the index option segment, which accounted for Rs 8,701 crore in Monday’s total volume. The figure is also the highest during the month so far. This signifies that traders are hedging their positions in the option segment as they expect volatile trading pattern for the next few sessions.

Stock futures

Reliance Industries was the most active contract among the individual stock futures followed by momentum counters such as IFCI, Triveni Engineering, RNRL and Ispat Industries.

Though IFCI December futures fell 2.5 per cent, open interest positions jumped 24 per cent indicating underlying bullishness. It also ended at Rs 111 in premium to the spot close of Rs 108.65.

The biggest losers were Jindal Steel and RNRL with the former losing 9.51 per cent and the latter 8 per cent.

Interestingly, all top traded counters in the option segment are from calls. Among them are Reliance (2900 and 3000 strikes), IFCI (120, 115 and 125 strikes), RNRL (180, 190 and 195 strikes) and Ispat Industries (85 and 80 strikes). This suggests emergence of call writers, and that is a negative for these stocks.

FIIs remain sellers

Foreign investors remained net sellers in the derivative segment on Friday; they were net sellers to the tune of Rs 2,205 crore — Index futures (Rs 1359.98 crore), stock futures (Rs 785.05 crore), and index options (Rs 50.63 crore).

Securities under ban

The NSE has banned Adlabs Films, Alox Textiles, Essar Oil, Gitanjali Gems, IFCI, Nagarjuna Fertilisers, Neyveli Lignite, Power Grid, and Rajesh Exports as open interest positions have crossed the 95 per cent mark of the market-wide limit.

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