Market watch: What does the F&O market suggest about trade on December 30?

After two days of gain, the Indian equity market traded choppy ahead of monthly expiry. In the morning session, the market started on a subdued note and remained rangebound. It traded in the tight range of around 100 points. A sharp fall in the last half hour of trade led the market to finally end in red with a loss of roughly 45 points at 17,188 levels. Nifty VIX was down by 1.41 per cent in today’s trade.

Activity on the F&O front for monthly expiry on December 30 shows 17200 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest open interest contract of 175380 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 155592.0 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 17300. In terms of the highest addition of open interest in the call options front, it was at 17300 in the last trading session. A total of 57744.0 open interest was added at this strike price.  

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 16700 (64289.0 open interest added on 29-Dec-2021), followed by 17100 where (21470.0 open interest added on 29-Dec-2021). Highest total put open interest (196214.5) stood at a strike price of 17000. This is followed by a strike price of 16700, which saw a total put option open interest of 134509.0 contracts. 

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 1.09 for the day. A PCR above 1 is considered bullish while a PCR below 1 is considered bearish. 

Max pain at the end of today's trade stands at 17200.