Nifty Futures shed 12 lakh shares in open interest

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

FIIs have net sold Rs 97 crore in Index Futures on March 21, as per provisional data available on NSE; which open interest (OI) was down by 7812 contracts

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 870 crore in Index Options; which OI was up by 19743 contracts

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 26 crore in Stock Futures; which OI was up by 3995 contracts

Nifty Futures shed 12 lakh shares in OI and ended with 15 points premium as against 13 points. Nifty April 5300 Put added 2.33 lakh shares in OI.

Fresh shorts and delivery based selling were seen in Ranbaxy Labs and Hindalco. Ranbaxy tanked 6.3%; its OI was up by 26% and delivery volume jumped at 7.7 lakh shares as against 1.1 lakh shares.

Hindalco tumbled 3%; its OI was up by 10% and delivery volume increased at 50.6 lakh shares versus 32.7 lakh.

Suzlon Energy and Escorts witnessed short covering & delivery based buying yesterday. Ranbaxy rallied 2.5%; its OI was down by 5% and delivery volume surged at 41.7 lakh shares versus 27.7 lakh.

Escorts rose 6.2%; its OI was down by 10% and delivery volume increased at 8.3 lakh equity shares versus 3.5 lakh.

Speculative buildup was seen in HOEC. The stock shot up 9.5% and its OI was up by 15%.

Fresh longs and marginal cash buying were seen in Videocon Industries. The stock gained 4.3%; its OI was up by 8.2% and delivery volume went up at 3.2 lakh shares as against 2.9 lakh.