Market watch: What does the F&O market suggest about trade on March 15?

Nifty 50 put-call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.9 for the day.

The Indian equity market remained one of the best performers among the Asian equity market.  It gained for the fifth day in a row. What helped the market further was the lowering of commodity prices on the back of talk progress between Russia and Ukraine. The frontline indices performed better than the broader indices in today’s trade. Nifty closed near the day’s high with gains of 254 points or 1.45 per cent at 16,885 levels while Nifty MidSmallcap 400 grew by only 0.23 per cent in today’s trade. Nifty VIX opened at 25.345 and closed at 25.6775 with a gain of 1.31 per cent.  

Activity on the F&O front for the weekly expiry on March 17, 2022, indicates 17,500 to act as a strong resistance now. The highest open interest contract of 1,11,514 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 80,529 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 17,000. Meanwhile, the highest addition of open interest in the call options front was at 16,900 in the last trading session. A total of 32,037 open interests were added at this strike price.  

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 16,200, where 26,733 open interest was added on March 14, 2022, followed by 15,150 strike price where (26,146) open interest was added today. The highest total put open interest (93,687) stood at a strike price of 16,000. This is followed by a strike price of 15,500, which saw a total put option open interest of 59,823 contracts.  

Nifty 50 put-call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.9 for the day. A PCR above one is considered bullish while a PCR below one is considered bearish.  

Max Pain at the end of today's trade for the weekly expiry on March 17 stands at 16,700. 

The top five call and put open interest with their strike price are as follows: