Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended lower for second straight session on Thursday amid escalated geopolitical jitters and surged crude oil prices. Brent crude oil price moved above $100 per barrel after Iran seized two cargo ships seeking to exit the Gulf via the vital global oil route and warned that the U.S. and Israel will not achieve their goals 'through bullying’. Index made a gap-down start and remained under pressure throughout the session. Sentiments were downbeat with persistent foreign fund outflow. As per exchange data, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 2,078.36 crore on April 22, 2026. Meanwhile, traders overlooked the report that the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI surged from 53.9 in March to 55.9 in April, while HSBC Flash India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 57.9 in April from March’s final reading of 57.5. Finally Nifty ended near 24,150 mark.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in red except Pharma, Media and Chemicals stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Oracle Financial Services Software and Piramal Pharma. On the other hand, the top losers were Union Bank of India, Havells India and Ashok Leyland. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25900 - 26100 calls and 22900 - 23100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 1.58% and reached 18.59. The 50 share Nifty down by 205.05 point or 0.84% to settle at 24,173.05.

Nifty April 2026 futures closed at 24166.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a discount of 7.05 points over spot closing of 24173.05, while Nifty May 2026 futures ended at 24265.00 (LTP), at a premium of 91.95 points over spot closing. Nifty April futures saw a contraction of 11,413 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,38,072 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on April 28, 2026. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, HDFC Bank April 2026 futures traded at a premium of 1.00 points at 784.90 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 783.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 122,931. (Provisional)

Infosys April 2026 futures traded at a discount of 5.20 points at 1226.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1231.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 77,883. (Provisional)

Tata Consultancy Services April 2026 futures traded at a discount of 7.20 points at 2511.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2518.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 61,186. (Provisional)

Trent April 2026 futures traded at a discount of 17.80 points at 4226.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 4244.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 57,823. (Provisional)

HCL Technologies April 2026 futures traded at a discount of 29.80 points at 1246.40 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1276.20. The numbers of contracts traded were 50,655. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 24200 SP from the April month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 73,687 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 24200 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 36,566 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 26000 SP (1,90,703 units) and that for Puts was at 23000 SP (1,63,352 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 24277.23 -- Pivot Point 24206.02 -- Support 24101.83.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (0.84) for April month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on GAIL (India) (1.51), Tata Consumer Products (1.50), Hitachi Energy India (1.49), Torrent Power (1.20), and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (1.19).

Among most active underlying HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 29,263 units of Open Interest in the April month futures, Infosys witnessed a contraction of 10,566 units of Open Interest in the April month future, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 9,362 units of Open Interest in the April month future, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 8,574 units of Open Interest in the April month futures and Tata Consultancy Services witnessed a contraction of 7,270 units of Open Interest in the April month futures. (Provisional).