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

Highest call option open interest contract was added at a strike price of 17500 for expiry on March 17.

Indian equity indices after gaining for five consecutive days saw a fall in today’s trade. Though in the morning equity indices opened in green with Sensex up by more than 100 points and Nifty 50 opened above 16900. Nevertheless, soon it slipped into red, also a couple of recovery attempts failed. It finally closed with a loss of 208.3 points or 1.23% at 16663.0.

Metal names such as Tata Steel and Kotak Bank were the prime losers from frontline indices. Globally we are seeing equity markets trading weak as the war between Russia and Ukraine does not seem to be coming to end soon and market is also cautious after China said it would lock down Shenzhen to contain a Covid outbreak.

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry on March 17 shows 17500 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest open interest contract of 170487 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 123651 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 17000. In terms of the highest addition of open interest in the call options front, it was at 17500 in the last trading session. A total of 57540 open interest was added at this strike price.

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 15500, where 21295 open interest was added today, followed by 15800 strike price where (19479) open interest was added. Highest total put open interest (95097) stood at a strike price of 16000. This is followed by a strike price of 15500, which saw a total put option open interest of 80876 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.63 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 for weekly expiry on March 17 stands at 16700.

Top five call and put open interest with their strike price