Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty settled with strong gains of nearly a percent on Monday, as bulls opted to buy fundamentally strong stocks at lower level. Index made a cautious start and turned volatile during early deals amid concerns over AI disruptions. Soon, index wiped out all losses and gained some traction as traders took encouragement with UK’s Trade Commissioner for South Asia Harjinder Kang’s statement that the India and UK share a dynamic and forward-looking partnership built on trust, collaboration, and shared ambition. He said 2025 year can be noted as a milestone year in UK India relations, marked by the signing of a Free Trade Agreement, a shared India-UK Vision 2035, and reciprocal visits by Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Narendra Modi to each other’s countries. Meanwhile, market participants took note of Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the interim trade agreement reached between the Centre and the US will cover India’s energy requirements and enable the country to obtain crude oil at more competitive rates. In second half of the session, market started climbing higher to touched its intraday high point and ended below 25,700 mark.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except Auto and Media stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were GMR Airports, Power Grid Corporation of India and Torrent Pharmaceuticals. On the other hand, the top losers were BSE, Inox Wind and Angel One. 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 0.28% and reached 13.33. The 50 share Nifty up by 211.65 point or 0.83% to settle at 25,682.75.

Nifty February 2026 futures closed at 25728.00 (LTP) on Monday, at a premium of 45.25 points over spot closing of 25682.75, while Nifty March 2026 futures ended at 25885.00 (LTP), at a premium of 202.25 points over spot closing. Nifty February futures saw a contraction of 6,942 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,41,863 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on February 24, 2026. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, Infosys February 2026 futures traded at a discount of 1.40 points at 1368.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1370.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 46,520. (Provisional)

HDFC Bank February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 1.70 points at 927.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 925.50. The numbers of contracts traded were 36,017. (Provisional)

BSE February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 7.00 points at 2807.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2800.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,039. (Provisional)

State Bank of India February 2026 futures traded at a discount of 4.20 points at 1206.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1210.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,771. (Provisional)

Tata Consultancy Services February 2026 futures traded at a premium of 2.40 points at 2715.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2713.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 20,349. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 25800 SP from the February month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 195 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 25500 SP from the February month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 15,954 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 26000 SP (1,14,210 units) and that for Puts was at 25000 SP (99,974 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 25,795.60 -- Pivot Point 25,584.15 -- Support 25,471.30.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (0.97) for February month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Dalmia Bharat (1.80), Apl Apollo Tubes (1.58), Lodha Developers (1.28), Eicher Motors (1.27), and KEI Industries (1.12).

Among most active underlying BSE witnessed an addition of 3,603 units of Open Interest in the February month future, Infosys witnessed an addition of 13,757 units of Open Interest in the February month future, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 3,076 units of Open Interest in the February month futures, Multi Commodity Exchange of India witnessed a contraction of 569 units of Open Interest in the February month futures and HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 3,189 units of Open Interest in the February month futures. (Provisional).