F&O manual| Indices trade lower; Nifty trading near crucial support of 21,700

At 11:31 hrs IST, the Sensex was down 565.79 points or 0.75 percent at 74,604.66, and the Nifty was down 162.60 points or 0.71 percent at 22,725.60

Indian benchmark indices were trading lower on May 29, with the market taking a breather after hitting new all-time highs earlier this week. The Nifty is now trading near the key support zone of 21,700.

ICICI Securities anticipates consolidation around the 23,000 level will continue, as both the 23,000 Call and Put options hold significant open interest.

"In sync with historical evidence, the Nifty staged a strong rebound after a 5 percent correction and clocked a new high, highlighting its robust price structure. Empirically, the index has corrected approximately 6 percent during the polling phase of the past four elections and eventually hit new highs around the election outcome on three occasions," said ICICI Securities.

The brokerage reiterated its positive stance. It expects the Nifty to gradually head toward its target of 23,400 in the coming weeks. "Focus should be on the big picture, as we are in a structural uptrend. The anxiety will subside post-event, and the markets will follow their structural uptrend. Retracement of the rally would thus provide a buying opportunity, and investors should focus on building portfolios and riding the uptrend," said the brokerage firm.

Bars in red indicate the change in open interest (OI) of call writers, while the green bars show the change in OI of put writers

Options data suggests heavy call writing across strikes ranging from 22,900 to 23,500. "The zone of 22730-22780 will act as crucial support for the index as it is the confluence of 23.6 per cent Fibonacci retracement level of its prior upward rally (21821-23110) and it coincides with 5-day EMA and prior two swing high’s. Hence, this zone will act as an important support for the index. Any sustainable move below the level of 22730 will lead to an extension of correction upto the level of 22600 level, " said Sudeep Shah, DVP and Head of Technicals and Derivatives at SBI Securities.

"While, on the upside, the zone of 22950-23000 level will act as crucial resistance for the index. Any sustainable move above the level of 23000 will lead to resume its northward journey, " Shah added.

JM financial: Rollovers are at 49 percent. Open Interest (OI) has decreased by 14 percent, noted at +92 basis points (bps), due to an increase in rollover activity. The OI Put-Call Ratio (PCR) has cooled off to 0.94 from 1.02.

"The 23,000 OI in both call and put options indicates a range setup play of 22,750-23,250, nearing a key support. Recovery is expected. Levels to watch are Support 1 (S1): 22,800-22,850 zone, Support 2 (S2): 22,725. Resistance 1 (R1): 23,100, and Resistance 2 (R2): 23,250, " said Akshay Bhagwat, Senior VP Derivative research at JM financial.

Among individual stocks long build up is seen in Jubliant foods, Nalco, IPCA labs and Crompton. While long unwinding is seen in Metropolis, PIIND and Biocon.

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