With only a day to go for the expiry of the September series, the Nifty is stuck in a narrow band of 4,090-4,240, indicating that futures and options (F&O) players are waiting for the expiry of derivatives. The Nifty October series witnessed healthy rollovers of 19.77 million shares, with the cost of carry forward increasing sharply from 3.3 per cent 6.1 per cent.
This is a good signal for the markets, but a lot depends on FIIs, who had rolled over their short positions in the index futures on Tuesday. Technically, the momentum indicators are trading in a neutral zone, suggesting a movement on the either side. On closing above 4,240, one can expect the Nifty to retest 4,300 and on closing below 4,100, there is a high possibility that the index could correct till the previous lows.
Asian emerging markets ended in the green on Wednesday after Berkshire Hathaway promoter Warren Buffet announced an investment of $5 billion in the Goldman Sachs Group, sending a positive signal to global equity markets. The S&P CNX Nifty opened on a positive note, by met with selling pressure above the resistance level and closed the day with a modest gain.
Sterlite Industries stole the show on Wednesday, rising by 8.4 per cent after the company announced that it has dropped its restructuring plan. However, the initial euphoria ended very soon as the stock came off the day's high of Rs 517.70 to close at Rs 487.55.
The September futures of Sterlite witnessed an unwinding of long positions of 0.47 million shares, while the October futures witnessed an increase in the open interest (OI) by 1.6 million shares. This is a clear indication that short positions got rolled over at the day's high level. IT stocks remained weak, with Infosys, TCS and Wipro witnessing a rollover of short positions.
