FUTURES & OPTIONS

Mirroring the exuberance in cash market, brisk trading was seen in the derivative segment. Ignoring the technical glitch witnessed on the NSE, which kept the exchange halted nearly for three hours on July 10, Nifty scaled 9,900 level during the week.

In the option segment, on call side, Nifty 10,000-strike call has the highest open interest of 45 lakh shares. On put side, 9,700-strike put has the highest open interest of over 60 lakh shares in open interest.

With all major sectors supporting the uptrend and ‘active’ sector rotation underway, expect Nifty to cross the 10,000 mark sooner than expected say punters. On the back of results from TCS and Infosys, IT sector was in limelight. Results have shown that despite challenges like tightened rules on H-1B visas in the US market both the majors have performed reasonably well.

IT sector is grappling with increasing automation and a changing technology landscape that’s pressuring margins at firms. Sources say major firms should still be able to perform strongly despite a volatile macroeconomic environment. Accumulate on declines with medium term view. Banks, Metals and Autos have seen addition of long positions.

Ahead of the monetary policy review, renewed interest was seen in banking stocks. With ‘decent’ results from private banks till date, focus is now on results of PSU banks. Industry watchers predict some pleasant surprises.

Sustained buying interest was seen in Metal stocks. Use declines to buy Tata Steel and Hindalco.

Results from HUL will give hint of GST impact say observers. Coming week could see results of firms like RIL, ACC, Ultratech Cement, Wipro, Bajaj Auto having bearing on the markets.

C. Kutumba Rao is an avid follower of stock markets. This newspaper is not liable for decisions made on the basis of this column. Views expressed in the article are personal views of the writer.