F&O Cues: Key support & resistance levels for Nifty 50

Highest put option open interest contract was added at a strike price of 17500 for expiry on February 10.

The Indian equity market ended the week with a gain of 2.4% after closing with a loss in the earlier two weeks. Nevertheless, bears dominated the market in the last two trading sessions. After falling by more than 200 points in yesterday’s trade, Nifty 50 fell by 43.9 points even today and closed 17,516.3. Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Banks were the worst performers while Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG gained today. Volatility defined today’s trade as Nifty 50 kept on swinging between positive and negative for the entire session.

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry on February 10 shows 17800 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest open interest contract of 118038 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 111895 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 18500. In terms of the highest addition of open interest in the call options front, it was at 17800 in the last trading session. A total of 59331 open interest was added at this strike price.

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 17500, where 26174 open interest was added today, followed by 17400 where (24896) open interest was added. Highest total put open interest (63864) stood at a strike price of 17500. This is followed by a strike price of 17000, which saw a total put option open interest of 52793 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.57 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 17550.