Nifty ends flat; India VIX surges over 2 per cent
Market update at 3.30 PM: The benchmark indices i.e. Nifty and Sensex ended flat on the day of expiry. Nifty Midcap ended marginally lower while Nifty Smallcap gained 0.24 per cent.
Nifty IT remained the top gainer among the sectoral indices while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty slipped nearly a per cent each.
NTPC and HCL Tech were the top gainers while Bajaj Auto & Reliance were the ones that dragged the market.
The 17,200 was seen to have a huge open interest addition in both, the call as well as the put side while Nifty ended near the strike price. Hence, it becomes very important to analyse options' data.
Market update at 1 PM: Nifty and Sensex are rangebound. Nifty Midcap slipped half a per cent while Nifty Smallcap is marginally higher.
Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT continues its stellar run and is up by over 1 per cent while Nifty PSU Bank has plunged over a per cent. India VIX is up by 1 per cent.
The top three gainers for Nifty are from the IT sector, namely, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro while Bajaj twins faced the heat amid selling pressure and emerged as the top losers until afternoon.
Market update at 10 AM: The initial hour was range-bound as the indices are resilient to move either way. Nifty, Sensex, and Nifty Midcap are trading flat while Nifty Smallcap is marginally up.
Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma rose about half a per cent each while the banking indices are trading lower. Nifty PSU Bank slipped about half a per cent.
India VIX is higher by 1 per cent. Huge open interest has been added at 17,200 on the put side. In the case of the call side, huge open interest has been added at 17,400 in the initial hour of the session.
Pre-market update: Asian markets have opened mixed and SGX Nifty indicates a flat opening.
Last night, the US markets ended mixed with NASDAQ being marginally lower and Dow higher by 0.25 per cent.
The FII & DII data suggest that FIIs have turned net sellers once again, and have sold for Rs 975 crore while DIIs have bought for Rs 1,006 crore worth of equity.
LIC of India will acquire 2 per cent stake in BPCL. Thus, we might see a good rally in BPCL today.
Today, being the monthly expiry, we must expect some volatility. The 17,000 put option continues to hold maximum open interest while 17,500 in call side has the highest open interest. Thus, we can expect Nifty to close the expiry in this broader range. Smart players have created a 17,200 short straddle with the premium of Rs 120. Thus, a shorter range for Nifty would be 17,080 and 17,320.