Bear-bull tug of war underway; profit booking likely around 12,000 level

Mumbai: Heavy put option selling was visible in Nifty in the first hour of trade, in an early hint that the bellwether index could shy away from 12,000 level. The selling is happening at 11,850 and 11,900 strike puts on Nifty options expiring on Thursday.

Analysts like Vikas Jain of Reliance Securities believe that 12,000-12,150 could be a potential target, before profit booking sets in. However, others like Rohit Srivastava remain cautiously optimistic, as Reliance Industries, a chief constituent of Nifty, remains poised at crucial support of Rs 2167-2170, which if broken could see the Nifty test 11,550 levels.

But weekly options also indicate that bears won't cede the 11,900 or 12,000 levels without a tough fight. Indeed, data shows massive writing on weekly calls at 11,900-12,000. This tied in with a view among analysts that profit booking could happen around 12,000.

Current, put-call ratio data suggests a slight upper hand to the bulls intraday Tuesday. The range for Nifty till Thursday is 11,800-12,000, intraday options data indicate.