Infosys, SBI see highest short covering among Nifty stocks in September series

The just concluded September series saw 14 Nifty50 stocks witnessing short covering led by Infosys, as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) preferred to take short bets on the index and single stock futures (SSF), revealed a Nuvama report.

FIIs net shorts stood at 144,000 contracts at the end of the September series versus 142,000 contracts at the start of the series. As for the client category, the HNIs and retail investors added meaningful longs in the index while increasing their long positions in SSF. Their net longs in SSFs stood at 1,451,000 contracts, up by 97,000 contracts, versus 1,354,000 long contracts at the start of the September series.

The other stocks that saw short covering include Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Grasim Industries, UPL, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, HCL Technologies, State Bank of India (SBI), Tata Consultancy Services, LTIMindtree, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, Britannia Industries and Bajaj Finance. Shree Cement, a non-Nifty 50 stock also saw a significant short covering.

Infosys' open interest (OI) was down by 16.9%, followed by public lender SBI, whose open interest was down 13.9%. The next in the pack were Britannia (-11.3%), LTIMindtree (-8.4%) and Bajaj Finance (-8.1%). The stocks' prices ended the series with gains of 0.3%, 5.1%, 1.3%, 1.4% and 8%, respectively.
The open interest in Eicher Motors, Hindalco and HCL Technologies was down 8.7%, 8% and 7.3%, respectively, as the stocks finished the September series with gains of 3.1%, 1.5% and 6%, respectively.

Open interests in the remaining stocks were down between 0.9% and 6.8%.

Meanwhile, stocks which saw significant long build-ups were Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Coal India, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Nestle India, Tata Consumer Products, Titan and Bajaj Finserv.

The long build-up was highest in Power Grid with OI increasing by 80.4% followed by L&T and Adani Ports whose OI went up by 42.3% and 25.9%, respectively.


The September series was high in action with benchmark indices hitting fresh all-time highs in the first half while nosediving by nearly 700 points in the later half and still managing to end up by 300 points or 1.4%. This marked the fifth positive F&O expiry in the last six series, showcasing the market's resilience, the Nuvama report said.

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