Snaping three-day gaining streak, Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended lower on Friday ahead of Union Budget 2026. Index made a gap-down start following broadly negative cues from other Asian markets. Index continued lacklustre trade in red during morning session as market participants avoided risky bids ahead of Union Budget 2026 scheduled to be presented on February 1, 2026. Meanwhile, renewed foreign fund outflow weighted on inventors’ sentiments. As per exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equity worth Rs 393.97 crore on Thursday. Further, some cautiousness came with the government report stating that several infrastructure projects worth above Rs 150 crore each registered a cumulative cost overrun of Rs 5.42 lakh crore. In afternoon session, index saw some recovery but remained under pressured till end of the session.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, FMCG and Consumer Durables stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, IT and Private Bank. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Vodafone Idea, Blue Star and Aurobindo Pharma. On the other hand, the top losers were Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta and National Aluminium Company. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25900 - 26100 calls and 24900 - 25100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 1.96% and reached 13.63. The 50 share Nifty down by 98.25 point or 0.39% to settle at 25,320.65.

Nifty February 2026 futures closed at 25425.00 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 104.35 points over spot closing of 25320.65, while Nifty March 2026 futures ended at 25593.00 (LTP), at a premium of 272.35 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw an addition of 9,841 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,84,094 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 24, 2026. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, Vedanta February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 3.00 points at 683.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 680.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 51,707. (Provisional)

Hindustan Zinc February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 3.50 points at 629.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 626.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 44,619. (Provisional)

Dixon Technologies (India) February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 26.00 points at 10461.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 10435.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 43,000. (Provisional)

ICICI Bank February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 6.70 points at 1363.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1357.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,227. (Provisional)

HDFC Bank February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 5.00 points at 934.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 929.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,961. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 26000 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 8,739 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 25000 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 14,774 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 26000 SP (74,387 units) and that for Puts was at 25000 SP (83,696 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 25389.68 -- Pivot Point 25301.67 -- Support 25232.63.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.12) for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Dalmia Bharat (1.96), Patanjali Foods (1.35), Oberoi Realty (1.29), ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company (1.25) and Swiggy (1.25).

Among most active underlying Vedanta witnessed an addition of 3,434 units of Open Interest in the February month future, Hindustan Zinc witnessed an addition of 1,691 units of Open Interest in the February month future, Multi Commodity Exchange of India witnessed an addition of 858 units of Open Interest in the February month futures, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 8,634 units of Open Interest in the February month futures and Dixon Technologies (India) witnessed an addition of 3,126 units of Open Interest in the February month futures. (Provisional).