Informist, Friday, Jul 15, 2022

By Joe Milton

MUMBAI – The Nifty 50 index managed to close above 16000 points today amid last-minute gains in financial stocks. However, it may continue to face resistance at 16200 points, as indicated by bets in the derivatives segment. 

In the call options contract expiring on Thursday, significant open interest addition was seen at the 16200 strike price.

Consequently, the net addition of open interest at the 16000 strike price fell in the last hour of trading, as the Nifty 50 managed to stay above that level. 

"Going ahead, the market is likely to continue its range-bound movement as the tug of war continues between global and domestic cues," said Siddhartha Khemka, head-retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Investors will watch the movement of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, as well as Brent crude oil prices. On the domestic front, participants will react to the earnings from HDFC Bank, Wipro, HDFC Life Insurance CO, and Hindustan Unilever, among others. 

On the back of this, analysts expect the Nifty 50 index to remain largely range-bound, traversing between 15900 and 16200 points. 

Today, the 50-stock index closed 0.7% higher at 16049.20 points after touching the day's low of 15927.30 points. The index ended the week about 1% lower.

Open interest in the July futures of the Nifty 50 rose 1% to 12.4 mln. 

Shares of HDFC Bank snapped a three-day losing streak today and closed 0.8% higher at 1,362.05 rupees. India's largest private sector bank is set to report its Apr-Jun earnings on Saturday. 

The stock gained ahead of its earnings, while open interest in the July futures fell about 1% to 54.8 mln. Analysts said no major covering of short positions was seen. 

In the call options of HDFC Bank, the highest open interest was at the 1,400-rupee strike price and call writers continued to add positions at the 1,360-rupee strike price. 

The highest open interest in the put options segment was at the 1,300-rupee strike price and some unwinding was seen at the 1,400-rupee strike price. 

On the back of this, analysts expect HDFC Bank to face resistance at 1,380 rupees and 1,410 rupees. 

--Nifty 50 Jul closed at 16074.00, up 141.45 points; 24.80-point premium to spot index

--Nifty 50 Aug closed at 16089.00, up 141.60 points; 39.80-point premium to spot index

--Nifty 50 Sep closed at 16131.60, up 140.60 points; 82.40-point premium to spot index

The total turnover in the futures and options segment of the National Stock Exchange stood at about 54 trln rupees, compared to 222.5 trln rupees on Thursday.

The turnover in index options was at 51.1 trln rupees against 219.8 trln rupees in the previous session. The total premium turnover of index and stock options was at 305.1 bln rupees compared to 438.6 bln rupees on Thursday.  

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki India, Adani Enterprises, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Infosys, and Mahindra & Mahindra were the most actively traded underlying stocks today.  End

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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