Rollover to April series continues

DERIVATIVES REPORT

More than 50 per cent of the outstanding positions in stock futures saw a roll-over to the April series.

Among heavyweights, Reliance Industries saw roll-over of ten lakh shares, Tata Motors witnessed roll-over of 8.5 lakh shares and Tata Steel saw roll-over of 12 lakh shares.

Punjab National Bank added 30 per cent, Polaris 10 per cent, Gujarat Ambuja 18 per cent and Reliance Energy 18 per cent in open interest.

Rolling over is the process by which traders unwind near month contracts and take fresh positions for the next month's contracts.

But the activity in the futures and options (F&O) segment was low key on the penultimate day of the expiry of March 2004 contracts on Wednesday. The total turnover on NSE's F&O segment declined sharply on Wednesday to Rs 10,980 crore from Tuesday's Rs 13,146 crore.

Nifty March futures traded at a premium to the spot despite just one day left for expiry of the contracts indicating short covering of positions. Nifty March futures ended at 1,697.75 compared with spot Nifty closing at 1,692.10.

Nifty April futures also ended at a premium to the spot at 1,697. Open interest in Nifty April futures was 61.97 lakh at the end of Wednesday's trading. Funds take positions in Nifty futures contracts for the purpose of hedging. While the implied volatility in call option was 22 per cent, in put options it was 27 per cent.