F&O Manual | Bullish traders in race with an eye on 20,000 on Nifty

The market continued to go from strength to strength on July 18 as the Q1 earnings season has thrown some positive surprises so far. Consistent foreign investor flows have also helped the market sentiments on Dalal Street.

The Nifty 50 index, as of 11am, traded up 92 points or 0.46 percent to 19,802.40. The Bank Nifty also showed promise as the index jumped 0.7 percent to 45,762.65.

Weekly option data shows put and call unwinding at below 19,600 levels as traders abandoned their positions to shift to higher levels. Point 19,800 was seen emerging as the new battlezone with traders taking straddle trades at this strike. Accumulation of puts at 19,700 and 19,750 were support for the index.

“Going forward, the sustainability above the 19,700 mark would lead to extension of upward momentum towards the psychological mark of 20,000,” said analysts at ICICI Securities in a morning note. “In the process, bouts of volatility tracking global development amid overbought conditions can not be ruled out. Thus, buy on dips would be the prudent strategy to adopt as we do not expect the index to breach key support of 19300.”