Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended lower on Monday ahead of monthly F&O expiry. Despite making slightly positive start, soon index wiped out all gains and entered into red terrain. Some cautiousness came with continued Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) fund outflow. As per exchange data, FII offloaded equities worth Rs 317.56 crore on Friday. Besides, traders overlooked Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) delivered sustained export growth, deeper market access, and stronger supply-chain resilience, benefiting Indian exporters, MSMEs, farmers, and workers alike. In afternoon session, index extended its losses and continued its southward journey till the end of the session. Finally, nifty ended below 25,950 mark.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in red except Media, FMCG and PSU Bank stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were HFCL, Housing & Urban Development Corporation and Tata Steel. On the other hand, the top losers were Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Rail Vikas Nigam and Dixon Technologies (India). In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 26000 - 26200 calls and 25900 - 26100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 6.22% and reached 9.72. The 50 share Nifty down by 100.20 point or 0.38% to settle at 25,942.10.

Nifty December 2025 futures closed at 25955.80 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 13.70 points over spot closing of 25942.10, while Nifty January 2026 futures ended at 26119.00 (LTP), at a premium of 176.90 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 5,989 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 1,44,185 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 30, 2025. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, HDFC Bank December 2025 futures traded at a discount of 2.60 points at 990.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 992.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 72,407. (Provisional)

Reliance Industries December 2025 futures traded at a premium of 0.60 points at 1547.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1546.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 39,825. (Provisional)

ICICI Bank December 2025 futures traded at a premium of 0.80 points at 1344.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1343.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,430. (Provisional)

Infosys December 2025 futures traded at a premium of 0.30 points at 1645.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1645.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,377. (Provisional)

Vedanta December 2025 futures traded at a premium of 0.50 points at 593.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 593.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,352. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 26000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 1,58,127 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 26000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 47,776 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 26100 SP (2,95,473 units) and that for Puts was at 26000 SP (1,51,630 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 26059.17 -- Pivot Point 25989.73 -- Support 25872.67.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (0.57) for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company (1.40), Grasim Industries (1.22), National Aluminium Company (1.21), KFin Technologies (1.15) and Laurus Labs (1.13).

Among most active underlying HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 17,672 units of Open Interest in the December month future, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 5,895 units of Open Interest in the December month future, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 3,350 units of Open Interest in the December month futures, Vodafone Idea witnessed a contraction of 1,669 units of Open Interest in the December month futures and Vedanta witnessed an addition of 2,040 units of Open Interest in the December month futures. (Provisional).