Futures discounting continues

DERIVATIVES REPORT

Nifty futures continued to be traded at a discount to the underlying spot index for the second straight day on Wednesday. April Nifty rose 21.15 points to close at 1,765.55 while the NSE S&P CNX Nifty rallied 21.75 points to end at 1,771.90.

But the open interest in Nifty futures increased by 5.3 lakh shares. The implied volatility in call options was 16 per cent while the volatility in put options was 26 per cent.

Rohan Deshpande, a derivative strategist at Renaissance Securities, said, "Despite Nifty trading at a discount to the underlying index, the outlook for the market remains bullish as open positions in key stocks increased substantially."

The turnover on National Stock Exchange remained low at Rs 9,606 crore. The most active futures contracts were Satyam, Reliance Industries, Tisco and Infosys.

Among heavyweights, Reliance Industries shed three lakh shares, ONGC shed 3.5 lakh shares, Hindustan Lever shed 2.8 lakh shares and Ranbaxy shed 80,000 shares in open positions. There was no change in open interest in Tisco and Tata Motors.

Meanwhile, technology stocks continued to be battered and were weak in a buoyant market. Satyam added 5.8 lakh shares during the day.

On Tuesday, these counter had added a similar quantity in open interest. HCL Tech, Polaris, Wipro, Infosys and CNX-IT saw build-up in open positions.