The Sensex closed at 19449, down 96 points from its previous close, and Nifty shut shop at 5834, down 34 points, the BSE index touched a high and a low of 19,633.63 and 19,412.79 respectively. The NSE index touched high and low of 5,892.35 and 5,819.95, respectively.

Nifty April 2011 futures closed at 5,835.90, at a premium of 2.00 points over spot closing of 5,833.90, while Nifty May 2011 futures were at 5,860.70 at a premium of 26.80 points over spot closing. The near month April 2011 derivatives contract expires on Thursday, April 28, 2011. Nifty April futures saw an addition of 19.30% or 2.77 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 17.15 mn units.

For Nifty calls, 5,900 strike price (SP) from the April series was the most active call with an addition of 2.49 mn or 30.87%. Among Nifty puts, 5800 SP from the April month expiry was the most active put with a contraction of 0.18 mn or 2.55%. The maximum Call OI outstanding was at 5900 SP (10.58) and that for Puts at 5800 SP (6.87).