LACKLUSTRE trading saw the Hang Seng Index February contract slide 10 points to 8,040 in direction-less trading. March futures fell 20 points to 8,050. Total volume was a moderate 22,298 contracts, with 20,811 contracts in February and 1,487 contracts in March. Dealers said sentiment was pretty dour. The huge trading and surge in index stocks on Wednesday and Thursday was put down to pure dealer trading with no fundamental basis at all. Late in the day on Thursday and during the day yesterday Jardine Fleming was seen as a heavy seller of stocks and contracts. The brokerage, in its index options report, said: 'Local investors generally believed 8,200 will be a resistance in the coming week and sold February 8,200 calls.' Mid-term bulls, said JF, bought March 7,900-8,400 two by one ratio spreads, expecting the market to go up to 8,400. There were 3,713 lots traded. Implied volatility in the front month was stable at around 29.5 per cent to 30 per cent. In September implied volatility was 31 per cent in at-the-money calls and puts. Open interest in February futures for Thursday was 36,177 contracts and 1,487 contracts in March.
