Market watch: What does the F&O market suggest about trade on March 24?

The Nifty 50 put-call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.55 for the day.

Indian equity market could not build on its opening gain and closed in red in today’s trade. In a volatile trading session, Nifty 50 closed with a fall of 69.85 points and closed below 17,250. It opened at 17405.05 against the previous close of 17315.50, which means a gap up of 89.55 points and touched an intraday high of 17444. What supported the market today was NIFTY METAL which was up by 1.21 per cent while banking names and Infosys dragged Nifty 50. Nifty VIX opened at 24.07 and closed at 24.75 with a gain of 2.81 per cent.

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry tomorrow shows highest open interest contract of 172784 stood at strike price of 18000. The second-highest call option open interest 171547 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 17500 in the last trading session. A total of 72336 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 30864 open interest was added today, followed by 17150 strike price where (11042) open interest was added. The highest total put open interest (84619) stood at a strike price of 16500. This is followed by a strike price of 17000, which saw a total put option open interest of 76986 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put-call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.55 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 tomorrow stands at 17300.

Top five call and put open interest with their strike price