The Indian indices opened marginally positive but maintained a trend of directionless trade, as they gyrated in a narrow band for most of the session. Volatility ruled the roost until mid-session, as the markets traded with minor, updown swings, although they sustained in the green. The markets slipped in the red in the final session, but a sharp recovery, led by benchmark heavyweight Reliance Industries, helped the indices close at their day’s highs. Both the Sensex and the Nifty gained 0.3% each, while the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices registered gains of 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. Among the front-liners, Bharti Airtel, RCom, Hero Honda, SBI and HUL were up by 1-4%, while HDFC, DLF, M&M, TCS, and ICICI Bank were down by 1-2%. In the mid-cap segment, Kirloskar Oil, United Breweries Holding, HSBC Investdirect, Deccan Chronicle and Apollo Tyres were up by 5-8%, while Motilal Oswal, Novartis, Carborundum, REI Six Ten Retail and IBREL were down by 3-5%.

The Sensex slipped into the red soon after initial gains, hitting a fresh day's low in mid-morning trade. The market recouped its entire losses later. The Sensex hit a fresh intraday low in afternoon trade as Asian stocks fell. The key benchmark indices surged to the day's highs at the fag end of trade after global rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) revised India's rating outlook to stable from negative. S&P affirmed the 'BBB-' long-term and 'A-3' short-term sovereign credit ratings on India. Capital goods, FMCG stocks fell. Auto stocks were mixed. Banking and metal stocks rose. Stocks were volatile as traders rolled over positions in the derivatives segment from the March 2010 series to the April 2010 series, ahead of the expiry of the near-month March 2010 contracts on Thursday, 25 March 2010. Both the Sensex and Nifty gained 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively, while the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also gained 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively.