The Nifty F&O series started with low Open Interest at 8.3 million shares, which is the lowest since September 2020. On the Call side, the highest Open Interest is seen at 18,000CE followed by 18,200/18,300/18,100/18,500/17,800/18,250 strikes. And on the Put side, maximum Open Interest is seen at 18,000PE followed by 17,800/17,900/17,700/17,500 strikes. The 18,000/17,900/17,950/18,050/18,100 strikes also saw significant build-up of Put Open Interest.
Dhirender Singh Bisht, associate vice-president (technical research-equity) at SMC Global Securities Ltd said that Put writers added hefty Open Interest at 18,000 strike while Call writers shifted to higher bands with marginal Open Interest addition. Indian markets began the May series with a strong comeback with Nifty gaining 2.50 per cent over the week. NSE Nifty ended the week at 18,065 points with a net gain of 440.95 points or 2.50 per cent from a week ago.
BSE Sensex closed the week ended April 28, 2023, at 61,112.44 points, an encouraging rebound of 1,457.38 points or 2.44 per cent from the previous week. Bisht forecasts that both indices can be seen moving with formation of higher bottom patterns on daily and weekly charts and are expected to keep their bullish momentum intact in upcoming sessions as well. The 18,000-17,800 zone would act as a strong support area for Nifty while on the higher side it may move towards 18,300 levels in upcoming sessions.
FIIs remained largely muted despite the monthly expiry. While the short covering in index futures continued, the focus shifted to stocks where they bought over Rs4,800 crore during the week. Despite a gradual up move in the index, FIIs remained net sellers in index options and sold options worth nearly Rs11,000 crore during the week.
The Bank Nifty OI declined significantly during the May F&O series with nearly 2.2 million shares and the current OI is lowest in the last three months.
