Market Summary

February 2026 Nifty 50 Futures Contract

• The Nifty 50 February 2026 futures contract settled 1% higher on Tuesday, February 24.
• The Bank Nifty rallied 3.1% during the expiry month.

Rollover Data

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• The Nifty's February series rollover stood at 68.2%, falling below the previous expiry's 70.8% and the three- and six-month averages of 70.6% and 75.6%.
• The March series commenced with 142.73 lakh shares in open interest (OI), reflecting a decline of 31.54 lakh shares despite a 1% rise in prices.
• The Bank Nifty rollovers came in at 74.3%, higher than the previous expiry's 71.2% and above the three-month average of 73%, though marginally below the six-month average of 76.3%.
• The March series opened with 14.29 lakh shares in OI after adding 0.79 lakh shares, supported by a 3.1% price rally.

Market Sentiment

• The contraction in open interest alongside rising prices indicates a cautious undertone, suggesting that the move was largely driven by short-covering rather than aggressive fresh long positions.
• The synchronized rise in both open interest and price signals a healthy long build-up and strong bullish conviction in the banking sector.
• Market-wide rollovers were recorded at 93.36%, slightly lower than the previous 93.69% and below the historical three and six-month averages of 94.5% and 94.9%, respectively.

Rollover Costs

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• The rollover costs for Nifty 50 and Bank Nifty compressed to 0.70% and 0.64%, respectively, from 0.87% and 0.83%.

Stocks and Sector Highlights

• Higher rollovers compared to the previous expiry were observed in Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Bosch, and Colgate-Palmolive India.
• Lower rollovers were recorded in NTPC, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Vedanta, and Power Grid Corporation of India.

FII Positioning

• Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have turned cautiously constructive in the current series.
• The FII Futures Index Long ratio has risen to 21% from 12% in the previous expiry.
• FIIs initiated the new series with 39,296 long contracts in index futures, an increase of 12,032 contracts over the previous expiry.
• Index futures shorts stood at 1,45,367 contracts, down by 57,522 from 2,02,889 contracts at the last expiry, indicating a reduction in bearish bets.