Traders said the premiums on stock futures, over the spot market, had shrunk to about seven per cent compared with 14-15 per cent earlier this month.
Although volumes were higher than yesterday, these were lower than volumes seen in the current rally.
The most active futures contracts were the Nifty, Tata Motors, Satyam, Maruti, Tisco and Reliance Industries.
Nifty futures traded at a premium of two to four points for a major portion of the day. However, the premium increased to seven to eight points to the spot Nifty towards the close of the session.
November Nifty contract fell 24.25 points to close at 1,587.05 while the NSE S&P CNX Nifty closed at 1,579.95. But Nifty added one lakh shares in open interest.
In stock futures and options, most bank stocks lost open interest during the day. Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and ICICI Bank shed three lakh shares each in open positions. Among technology stocks Satyam shed 13 lakh shares in open positions in the futures segment.
Infosys shed open interest in call options with higher strikes while the counter added open positions in call options with a strike of Rs 4,800. There was a reduction in open positions in put options at lower strike prices.
Elsewhere, Reliance Industries shed seven lakh shares, Hindustan Lever shed two lakh shares, HPCL shed 1.5 lakh shares and BPCL shed three lakh shares in the futures segment. On the other hand, Arvind Mills added ten lakh shares in the futures segment.
