The Sensex closed at 19,612 down by 74 points after making an intra-day low of 19,550 and the NSE Nifty down by 18 points to close at 5,891 after hitting a low of 5,868. The Sensex closed marginally down by 0.1%, while the Nifty closed flat. Among the front liners, RCOM, Hindalco, BHEL, Sterlite and Cipla gained 1–2%, while M&M, Tata Power, DLF, Wipro and HDFC lost 1–2%. Among mid caps, Patel Engg., Alok Inds, UTV Software, JM Financial and TechPro gained 6–11%.

Nifty April 2011 futures closed at 5,912.00, at a premium of 20.25 over spot closing of 5,891.75, while Nifty May 2011 futures were at 5,931.50 at a premium of 39.75 points over spot closing. The near month April 2011 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, April 28, 2011. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 3.90% or 1.05 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 27.95 mn units.

For Nifty calls, 6000 strike price (SP) from the April series was the most active call with an addition of 0.56 mn or 9.24%. Among Nifty puts, 5900 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.5 mn or 18.51%. The maximum Call OI outstanding was at 6000 SP (6.63) and that for Puts at 5900 SP (3.24). The respective Support and Resistance levels are: Resistance 5,934.53 -- Pivot Point 5,901.66 -- Support 5,858.88. The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) OI wise stood at 1.32 for April-month contracts.