The Stock Market BSE Index closed at 18943, up with 127 points or 0.68%, the index touched a high and a low of 19,024.18 and 18,799.57, respectively. While Nifty Index settled at 5687.25 up with 33 points or .58%, the index touched high of 5,709.10 and a low of 5643.20, respectively.

Nifty March 2011 futures closed at 5,704.20 at a premium of 16.95 over spot closing of 5,687.25, while Nifty April 2011 futures were at 5,732.15 at a premium of 44.90 points over spot closing. The near month March 2011 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, March 31, 2011. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 10.33% or 1.91 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 20.41 mn units.

Among Nifty puts, 5700 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 2.49 or 79.75%. The maximum Call OI outstanding was at 5700 SP (7.09) and that for Puts at 5600 SP (5.63). The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5716.5 --Pivot Point 5,679.85--Support 5,550.60. The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.82 for March-month contracts.