Market watch: What does the F&O market suggest about trade on December 21?

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.47 for the day.

Omicron has scared the equity market. There was not a single sectoral index that traded in the green and ended the day in red. The best performing sector Nifty Pharma was also down by more than 0.5 per cent. In the last two trading sessions, Nifty 50 is down by almost 4 per cent. In today’s trade alone it is down by 2.18 per cent or 371 points. It again remains one of the worst-performing indices globally.  

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry on December 23 shows 17000 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest open interest contract of 138843 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 126295 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 17500. In terms of the highest addition of open interest in the call options front, it was at 17000 in the last trading session. A total of 83174 open interest was added at this strike price.

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 15400 (33997 open interest added on 2021-12-20 ), followed by 15500 (28332 open interest added on 2021-12-20). Highest total put open interest (74986) stood at a strike price of 16000. This is followed by a strike price of 15500, which saw a total put option open interest of 59030 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.47 for the day. A PCR above 1 is considered bullish while a PCR below 1 is considered bearish.

Max pain at the end of today's trade stands at 16700.