Markets last month

OPEN INTEREST OUTLOOK

Smooth rollovers were witnessed on last day of the February expiry, with 84 per cent of the total positions being rolled over compared to 79 per cent in the previous expiry and an average of 82 per cent in the last few months.

On lines of the last expiry, there were no aggressive long rollovers on expiry day and the roll cost remained at 55 basis points. In value terms, the market wide open interest, however, declined by 5.6 per cent.

SECTOR ANALYSIS
Sectors hit by budget proposals witnessed fresh shorts in the derivatives segment on Friday. The fertiliser stocks were beaten severely following the absence of any budgetary relief.

Chambal Fertilisers, Nagarjuna Fertilisers and GNFC declined six to ten per cent due to the creation of short positions. The other sectors that witnessed short selling were telecom, capital goods and technology.

Long buying was seen in pharmaceuticals, petroleum, automobile, consumer goods and PSU banks, whereas profit booking took place in sugar and realty stocks.

PUT-CALL RATIO
The Nifty PCR declined further to 1.21 from 1.43 on first day of the new derivatives series. Call options added 24.56 lakh shares and Put options added 17.77 lakh shares in open interest. Put writing was seen in 5000, 5100 & 5200 strikes, while Call writing took place in 5,200 and 5300 strike prices.

The total options open interest stood at 17.98 million shares and was valued at Rs 9,400 crore. The Call options OI was valued at Rs 4,136 crore, while Put options OI was valued at Rs 5,260 crore.

Open interest in futures and options contracts on a stock is capped at 20% of the free-float holding. If open interest hits over 95% of the MWPL (market wide position limit), fresh open interest is restricted, and the underlying stock can only be bought in cash markets or from a seller in the derivatives market.

STOCK OF THE MONTH: Disa India
Month's close (Rs) 2100.00;
Previous month's close (Rs) 1375.00

The shares of small-cap multinational company, Disa India have risen by 50 per cent in the last one month after the company declared a FY07 dividend of 2000 per cent or Rs 200 a share and offered an attractive dividend yield of around 10 per cent.

Disa's foreign promoters had made an open offer to the shareholders last year to delist the shares from the stock exchanges, but it fell through. There is growing speculation about another offer from the parents at a higher price. Disa India is a manufacturer of foundry equipment.

The company operates through its three strategic business units of molding, shotblast and filters. It supplies complete foundry systems by integrating molding machines and sand mixers with the proper combination of sand plant equipment, surface treatment machinery, environmental control systems and conveying systems.

These find application in foundries, iron and steel, forging, machinery, reconditioning, aluminum and other industries. The company has manufacturing facilities in Tumkur and Hosakote, both in Karnataka.