Short covering in Nifty futures; Aug ends flat

MUMBAI: Bouts of profit booking on weak opening of European markets led Indian stocks to shed all early gains on Monday.

National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed the day slightly higher at 4335.35 and August futures provisionally ended flat to spot. However, September futures settled at 1 point discount, indicating rollovers of short positions in the series.

August futures price gained 0.29 per cent while open interest shed 3.25 lakh shares. Nifty September futures price advanced 0.32 per cent and added 59 lakh shares in OI.

Call writing was observed at strikes 4400 and 4300 of August series and in September at strikes 4500 and 4400.

Put buying was witnessed in August series at strikes 4400 and 4300 levels while September series showed put buying at 4200 and 4000 levels. The options data indicates resistance at 4400 and support at 4200 levels.

"We saw short covering across the counters ahead of F&O expiry Thursday. Markets will remain volatile till the expiry. Data on US and India GDP, due on Aug 28 and 29 respectively, are of vital importance for the markets, also inflation data. Players should utilise every rally to lighten their commitments," said Subrato Basubani, analyst with Spark, a wealth advisory firm.

Realty and banking sectors were the major gainers while metal, power and oil & gas lost the most.

In banking, Bank of Baroda August futures gained 4.5 per cent while the contract ended flat to spot. Kotak Mahindra Bank near month futures price advanced 2.31 per cent and open interest added 1.16 lakh shares. ICICI Bank contract ended in a slight premium to spot.

DLF August rose 1.88 per cent while the contract closed at Rs 5 discount. HDFC jumped 3.36 per cent on short covering. However, HDIL futures dropped 2.17 per cent and shed 8.71 lakh shares in open interest.

Metal and commodity stocks fell on tumbling prices in international market.

Tata Steel futures fell 2.19 per cent, Sterlite Industries skid 0.44 per cent and shed 6.30 lakh shares and SAIL August futures slipped 0.34 per cent with huge additions in open interest, indicating short build up in the SAIL contract.

Total F&O turnover on NSE was Rs 45,979 crore, up 3 per cent from Friday.

Elsewhere, European stocks fell as concern deepened that credit losses will spread, threatening economic and profit growth. US index futures declined.
thanks to: economictimes.indiatimes.com