Traders Hit Snooze Button Ahead Of Next Week’s U.S. Election As Nifty Falls Below 8,500

Indian equities extended their losses with the Nifty 50 index ending below 8,500-mark on Thursday, for the first time since July 11. While the index declined 0.3 percent, its futures saw unwinding as open interest in November series dropped by 1 percent.

The Nifty Bank index, similarly, fell 0.3 percent with its futures open interest declining by less than 1 percent. The lack of activity in futures indicates the cautious stance taken by traders who are reluctant to take positions for now. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold index futures worth Rs 416 crore on a net basis.

The India Volatility Index (or VIX) declined by 2 percent to close at 16.46.

Maximum open interest fell to the 8,400 put with the breach seen in 8,500. There was substantial unwinding in the 8,600 put. There was more writing seen in the 8,800 call but maximum open interest continued to remain in the 9,000 call.

FIIs bought 16,715 index put contracts against 3,663 index call contracts on a net basis.