Volumes on the rise

DERIVATIVES REPORT

Volumes went up on the derivatives segment with the NSE segment recording a turnover of Rs 9,711 crore with a total of 3.25 lakh contracts being traded. Index futures saw a turnover of Rs 3,539.75 crore, while stock futures recorded a turnover of Rs 5230 crore.

Nifty August futures were still trading at a discount to the spot Nifty, though the gap has narrowed substantially. The August series closed at a discount of five points to the spot Nifty which closed down 1.85 per cent at 1621.60.

The Nifty August series also reduced its open interest position by 1.2 lakh shares. The most active futures contracts in terms of value were Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, Satyam and ONGC among others.

Meanwhile, in the options segment the Nifty put-call ratio was above one, which means that the market is fundamentally bullish in its outlook despite the day's heavy selling.

ONGC added around 25 per cent to its open interest position, Hero Honda added around 16 per cent, BPCL added 11 per cent, Reliance Industries added 4 per cent and Tata Motors added 4 per cent in open interest.

Among those which saw a reduction in their open interest positions were IPCL, down by 21 per cent, ACC down by 14 per cent, ICICI Bank shed 11 per cent and HCL Tech decreased by 10 per cent in the open positions.

FII activity in the derivatives segment was subdued and they were net buyers to the tune of Rs 11 crore on Tuesday. Cumulative FII positions as a percentage of total gross market position in the derivative segment as on August 10, 2004 was 18.99 per cent.