Futures turnover spurts

DERIVATIVES REPORT

Volumes in the derivatives segment jumped up anew on Thursday with the turnover on the National Stock Exchange's futures and options segment standing at Rs 13,713 crore with a total of 4.55 lakh contracts being traded.

It was the last day of the September contracts and nearly more than 60 per cent of the positions were rolled over to the new series. The total outstanding open interest in the market was 29.60 crore shares.

Stock futures saw a significant turnover of Rs 8,891 crore with the outstanding open interest at 19.16 crore shares, while in the case of index futures the turnover was Rs 3,043 crore and the open interest outstanding at 1.34 crore shares.

The turnover in September futures was Rs 1,645 crore, while the bulk of the turnover was in October futures.

The positive bias in the market continued as the open interest positions testified.

Dealers said short positions would continue to be covered and the spot market would remain buoyant because of that. The cost of carry is also low, while the put-call ratio is also at fairly low levels.

In the case of individual stocks, Tata Steel futures saw open interest at Rs 513 crore. The most active futures contracts were those of Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries.

On the last day of expiry the September futures in the Nifty closed at 1,744.75, at a slight discount to the cash which closed at 1,745.50. The October futures closed at 1,741.65, while the November futures closed at 1,735.05.