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Traders roll over bullish Nifty bets; carry forward long positions in IT and pharmaceutical sectors 

MUMBAI: Traders carried forward bullish futures bets to the August series on expiry of July contracts on Thursday.

Rollover of Nifty and stock futures contracts to August was higher than the preceding three-month average as traders carried forward long positions in IT and pharmaceutical sectors as these stocks are expected to perform better than infrastructure and capital goods in this series.

Rollover of Nifty and stock futures contracts to August was higher than the preceding three-month average as traders carried forward long positions in IT and pharmaceutical sectors as these stocks are expected to perform better than infrastructure and capital goods in this series.

Rollover in Nifty futures was at 68% on Thursday against the average of 63% in past three series. But, Nifty's open interest position was lower at Rs 10,900 crore, compared with Rs 11,050 crore on the expiry day of the June series.

Nifty call options of 8000 strike in the August series saw the highest open interest build-up, suggesting traders expect the Nifty to rebound to this level this month.

Dalal Street will closely watch the monetary policy review early in August for further cues. "The highest call option base is seen at 8000 strike. Hence this remains the immediate index target for the month," said Amit Gupta, head of derivatives, ICICI Direct.

Market-wide rollover to the August series was at 78% compared to average of 74% in the past three series. The August series will start with market-wide futures open interest of Rs 64,100 crore against Rs 69,200 crore seen at the start of the July expiry.

IT and pharma stocks, which have not participated in the market rally for most of this year, saw strong rollovers. Rollover in PSU banks and capital goods stock futures was lower compared to previous months.

L&T and BHEL have seen a build-up of short positions in the August series. Rollover in consumer goods stocks such as HULBSE 0.77 % and ITC to the August series was strong. Private banks such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank saw rollover of long positions.