Market watch: What does the Futures and Options market suggest about trade on April 20?

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.41 for the day.

Indian equity market closed in red for the fifth day in a row. Though Nifty 50 opened in the green today, however, after swinging in between, it fell sharply in the last half hour of trade. The market lost about 400 points from its intraday. Nifty 50 opened at 17258.95 against the previous close of 17173.65. Finally, it closed with a loss of 215.0 points or 1.25 per cent at 16958.65. HDFC twins and Infosys were among domestic factors and war between Russia and Ukraine was among international factors that led to such performance of the equity market. Nifty VIX opened at 19.335 and closed at 19.775 with a gain of 2.27 per cent. 

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry on April 21 shows 17500 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest call open interest contract of 137883 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 134653 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 17200. In terms of the highest addition of open interest in the call options front, it was at 17200 in the last trading session. A total of 57532 open interest was added at this strike price.

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 16700, where 28309 open interest was added today, followed by 16500 strike price where (16842) open interest was added. Highest total put open interest (84056) stood at a strike price of 16500. This is followed by a strike price of 16700, which saw a total put option open interest of 63313 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.41 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 for weekly expiry on April 21 stands at 17100.

Top five call and put open interest with their strike price