Low rollover witnessed

DERIVATIVES REPORT

Just one day prior to the expiry of the March contracts in the derivatives segment, only 56 per cent of the outstanding positions have been rolled over to the April series.

Dealers said that a higher percentage of rollover is being expected on the final day. On the NSE, the derivatives segment recorded a turnover of over Rs 16,100 crore with a total of 4.4 lakh contracts being traded.

The outstanding at the end of the day was around 50.50 crore shares. Turnover in index futures was Rs 5,061 crore while the turnover in stock futures stood at Rs 9,447 crore.

The Nifty March futures are still trading at a premium to the cash values. The futures closed at Rs 1,996.95 against the spot value's closing of Rs 1,993.70 at the end of the day.

The April futures of the Nifty saw an addition of 20 lakh shares in open interest.

Dealers said that individual stock futures had witnessed a rollover to the extent of 60 per cent and over. This indicated that part of the pessimism in the market was evaporating, said dealers.

The rollover is also taking place in the long positions. Thsi, they said, was a positive trend. Futures contracts that saw gooda rollover were those of Reliance, ONGC and Tata Steel among others.

Foreign institutional investors also have rolled over half of their outstanding positions to the next month series. The cumulative positions of FIIs now stand at around 30 per cent. They were net sellers in the derivaitves segment to the tune of Rs 470 crore.