Indian information technology stocks showed a mixed set-up in the futures and options market, with Wipro Ltd. seeing a sharp increase in call open interest while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. faced concentrated call positions around the 2,500 strike. Infosys Ltd., meanwhile, saw substantial unwinding of call positions at the 1,200 strike.
The derivatives data showed traders adding or retaining call positions at key strikes across several IT stocks even as futures prices remained under pressure in parts of the sector. The positioning provides a view of where options traders have concentrated their exposure, but does not by itself determine the direction of the underlying shares.
Wipro Calls Surge
Wipro recorded the clearest build-up among the three IT stocks in the options data.
Call open interest at the 200 strike stood at more than 10 million contracts, compared with put open interest of about 2 million contracts. The latest change in positions was also concentrated on the call side, with call open interest rising by roughly 2.7 lakh contracts. Put open interest at the strike changed only marginally.
The concentration of call open interest at 200 makes it the key strike to track for Wipro in the options market.
TCS At 2,500
TCS options traders concentrated their positions around the 2,400-2,600 strikes.
Call open interest at the 2,500 strike stood at about 1.8 million contracts, the highest among the strikes shown in the data. Call open interest at 2,600 was around 1.1 million contracts.
Put positioning was stronger at lower strikes. Put open interest stood at roughly 9 lakh contracts at 2,400 and about 7.5 lakh contracts at 2,300. The 2,800 strike also had put open interest of more than 1 million contracts.
Fresh positioning added another layer to the set-up. Call open interest increased by about 56,000 contracts at 2,500, while put open interest changed little. At 2,400, traders added about 29,000 put contracts against roughly 16,000 call contracts.
TCS futures were trading higher in the data shared.
Infosys 1,200 Unwinds
Infosys presented a different picture.
The 1,200 strike had the largest call open interest at more than 5 million contracts, while put open interest stood at about 1.3 million contracts. The 1,100 strike carried a more balanced distribution, with call and put open interest both at around 4.5 million contracts.
However, the change in open interest showed substantial unwinding rather than fresh call addition at 1,200. Call open interest fell by roughly 1.85 lakh contracts at the strike, while put open interest declined by about 30,000 contracts.
At 1,100, put open interest increased by more than 30,000 contracts even as call positions declined marginally.
Infosys futures were at Rs 1,172.20, down 0.22%, while futures open interest stood at 2,14,319 contracts and was broadly unchanged, according to the data shared.
Other IT Futures
The broader IT futures screen remained mixed. HCLTech futures fell 0.56%, while Persistent Systems declined 0.44%. LTM and other technology counters also featured among stocks with changes in futures open interest.
The combination of futures price moves and options positioning showed that traders were not taking a uniform view across the IT pack. Wipro saw a large call build-up at 200, TCS had its biggest call concentration at 2,500, and Infosys saw sizeable call unwinding at 1,200.
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