F&O Manual: 18,000 a cliffhanger for Nifty; cement stocks solid

The market was volatile in the morning trade on February 17 but there were signs of strength as dips were being bought. As of 10.20 am, the Nifty was down 68 points at 17,968.05.

On the options front, 18,000 emerged as the battle zone, with the index struggling to go past the level. Put writers were also creating support for the index at 17,900.

For the Bank Nifty, which was also trading with a relatively larger cut, 41,500 strike was the battle zone, with call writers having an upper hand at that level.

Bars reflect change in OI during the day. Red bars show call option OI and green put option OI.

“Nifty looks a bit strong,” said Ankush Bajaj, a Chhattisgarh-based trader and a research analyst. He said he is long on the Nifty but short on the Bank Nifty.

Sector wise, cement was seeing a long buildup followed by textiles. Long buildup is bullish in nature and is marked by a rise in open interest and price at the same time. Technology, banking, pharma and finance names were seeing a short build-up with a fall in prices but an increase in open interest.

Ipca Labs, Biocon and AU Small Finance Bank were seeing a short buildup, some of them due to poor earnings in the December quarter. Cement names Ultratech Cement, Ramco Cement and Grasim Industries were among those seeing a long buidup.

Manish Shah, a technical analyst, said Ramco Cement and Escorts were a good intraday buy.