The Sensex closed at 19545, down 39 points from its previous close, and Nifty shut shop at 5868, down 6 points, The market held the positive zone in mid-afternoon trade but slipped into the red in late trade. The Sensex and Nifty closed with losses of 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

Nifty April 2011 futures closed at 5,875.00, at a premium of 6.60 points over spot closing of 5,868.40, while Nifty May 2011 futures were at 5,905.00 at a premium of 36.60 points over spot closing. The near month April 2011 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, April 28, 2011. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 5.82% or 1.23 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 22.55 mn units.

For Nifty calls, 5,900 strike price (SP) from the April series was the most active call with an addition of 1.39 mn or 20.23%. Among Nifty puts, 5800 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.26 mn or 3.71%. The maximum Call OI outstanding was at 5900 SP (8.31) and that for Puts at 5800 SP (7.54).