FIIs cover shorts in biggest index futures buy in 4 months

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought index futures worth ₹4,711 crore on Tuesday, marking their largest single-session purchase in nearly four months and signaling significant short covering. The Nifty 50 index rallied 370 points to close at 23,811, with FIIs net buying 28,587 Nifty futures contracts. Their open interest in these contracts fell 13.3% to 1.87 lakh contracts, indicating the covering of bearish bets. Analysts called this the largest short-covering activity in weeks, turning the November-series positioning bullish. Historical data shows that after a similar short-covering episode on July 17, the Nifty declined 2.3% in the following five sessions. Technical analysts now see support for the index at 23,600-23,650, with upside targets ranging from 23,950 to 24,200.