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

Highest put option open interest contract was added at a strike price of 17300 for expiry on March 31.

Taking cues from global peers and falling crude oil prices, the Nifty 50 closed in red for the second consecutive day. Nifty 50 opened at 17297.20 against the previous close of 17222.00. After swinging between negative and positive territory, it ended with a gain of 103.3 points or 0.6% at 17325.3. Despite being closed positive, Indian equity market remained an under-performer in the global equity market. Asian markets mostly closed with gains while the European equity markets are currently trading with a gain of more than one per cent and CAC 40 Index is leading the gain with 2.5%.

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry on March 31 shows 18000 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest call open interest contract of 185099.0 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 138692.5 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 17500. 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 20194.0 open interest was added at this strike price.

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 17300, where 62462 open interest was added today, followed by 16600 strike price where (61443) open interest was added. Highest total put open interest (135000.0) stood at a strike price of 16500. This is followed by a strike price of 17000, which saw a total put option open interest of 128932.0 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.98 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 31 stands at 17200.

Top five call and put open interest with their strike price