Street signs: Retail, HNIs pare bullish bets, cashing in on LIC IPO & more

Domestic brokerages are pulling all stops to cash in on the excitement around LIC's initial public offering (IPO).

Retail, HNIs pare bullish bets

Retail and high networth individuals (HNIs) have been aggressive buyers over the last several months. However, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish pivot, and surge in oil prices seem to have made a dent in sentiment. Data shows, they have scaled back their bullish bets in the derivatives market. “HNI and retail have unwound their single stock futures (SSF) long positions drastically. At the start of the February series, their net longs in SSF were 1.42 million contracts (record high) versus 1.12 million now,” said Abhilash Pagaria, head, Alternatives Research, Edelweiss Securities.

Short IOC, long