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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026

 

By Eshitva Prakash

 

MUMBAI – Traders held on to expensive near-the-money contracts on both sides of the options chain of the Nifty 50, indicating lack of consensus over where the headline index will move next. New positions on some negative delta contracts with high open interest, expiring Sept. 29, do not signal bearish sentiment, but instead point to low risk appetite among traders, analysts said. Market participants await US President Donald Trump's speech at the United Nations General Assembly later in the day, which will likely provide cues on US policy over the war in West Asia. 

 

Traders wrote call contracts across call options of the Nifty 50 to different extents. Premiums on near-the-money call contracts ranging from 23400 strike price to 23600 strike price declined 20–25%. Further out-of-the-money contracts came under bigger selling pressure, with premiums on 23700-24000 strike prices declining 30-40%. Far-out-of-the-money contracts also saw hefty writing activity, showing limited upside for the Nifty 50 this month. The highest open interest at 23500 strike price--marked for monthly expiry--indicates near-term resistance for the headline index.

 

Traders also wrote contracts on the other side of the options chain, albeit to a limited extent. Premiums on near-the-money put contracts across 23300-23100 strike prices fell marginally, while deeper-out-of-the-money contracts declined more. Analysts said 23300 points will act as crucial resistance for the Nifty 50, above which a bounceback to 23500–23600 is likely. If the headline index falls below this support, selling pressure is likely to accelerate and push the 50-stock index towards 23100–23050 levels in the near term.

 

ICICI Securities recommended traders book profits on short positions in Tata Consumer Products. The brokerage had recommended shorting the futures contract of the stock at INR 1,008 and advised booking profit at INR 987.50 per share. Tata Consumer's stock has remained under consistent selling pressure since May and has failed to sustain its recent intermediate recovery, ICICI Securities said. Open interest in the stock's futures is currently near a three-year-high, indicating high leverage and a build-up of short positions, indicating negative market bias.

 

Tuesday, the Nifty 50 ended at 23329.00 points, down 0.4% from Monday. A fall in crude oil prices led to a rise in stocks of companies dependent upon crude-linked derivatives. Coal India, Eternal, and InterGlobe Aviation ended 2–3% higher. Meanwhile, a fall in shares of consumer-facing companies such as Nestle India and Tata Consumer Products, and information technology companies weighed on the headline index. The put-call ratio of contracts expiring Tuesday also showed the index was in an overbought position, which added to profit booking. 

 

Analysts said traders are closely tracking crude oil prices before making directional bets. At 1545 IST, the November futures contract of Brent Crude oil traded 1.7% lower at 98.61 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. This five-session-long decline in the contract's premium has helped improve market sentiment, but a sharp rally is unlikely unless prices drop substantially from current elevated levels, analysts said. Brent Crude oil slipped below the $100 per barrel mark on the back of reports suggesting a possible agreement between the US and Iran over reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

 

--Nifty 50 September closed at 23410.00, down 36.30 points; 81.00-point premium to the spot index
--Nifty 50 October closed at 23510.00, down 34.30 points; 181.00-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 November closed at 23624.00, down 32.40 points; 295.00-point premium to the spot index

 

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, Vodafone Idea, Kaynes Technology India, Infosys, APL Apollo Tubes, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, and Solar Industries India were the most actively traded underlying stocks on Tuesday.  End

 

US$1 = INR 95.59

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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