Nifty futures open interest up

DERIVATIVES REPORT

Volumes in the derivatives segment were slightly higher compared with the previous day, with the turnover recorded being of the order of Rs 6,670.42 crore.

Index futures registered a turnover of Rs 1,927 crore. Among the individual stock futures the highest turnover was seen in Satyam futures which recorded a turnover of Rs 457.27 crore, with TCS futures following next in line with a turnover of Rs 359 crore.

Dealers said that the futures and options market still have no firm indication and since no view can be taken. It is likely to move within a narrow range at least for the next 15 days.

"People are waiting to see how the government is going to tackle the rise in oil prices and what long-term impact it will have on the economy," a dealer said.

While upsides are restricted, downsides will also not be much because the market has built up significant short positions, which will need to be covered up.

Nifty futures saw its open interest position going up and at the end of the day the outstanding open interest was 85.6 lakh shares. Satyam's open interest position at the end of the day was 31.40 lakh shares, TCS - 42.50 lakh shares, Tata Steel - 1.6 crore shares and Tata Motors - 89.70 lakh shares. ACC lost significantly in open interest positions while Gujarat Ambuja counter gained.

Nifty September series ended at a discount of around four points to the spot Nifty. This was because some of the larger counters such as ONGC and ICICI bank were ex-dividend.

The gap between the futures and the spot value will narrow further in the coming days as a number of stocks such as Gail will also be going ex-dividend.