Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended higher on Friday amid ease crude oil prices. Crude oil prices fell after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that U.S. may soon lift sanctions on Iranian crude stored aboard tankers, a move aimed at easing price pressures following Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the war with Iran may finish soon. The day began on optimistic note, as investors opted to buy fundamentally good stocks at lower levels. Soon, index witnessed huge buying in IT and Tech stocks after the recent pull back by the market. Meanwhile, traders took note of report that the government rolled out the RELIEF (Resilience & Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation) scheme with an outlay of Rs 497 crore to provide relief to exporters facing disruptions due to the ongoing West Asia conflict. However, in second half of the session, index pared some of its gains but maintained in green terrain till the end of the session. Finally, Nifty ended above 23,100 mark.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in green led by IT, PSU Bank, and Pharma.The top gainers from the F&O segment were Tata Elxsi, Inox Wind and Vodafone Idea. On the other hand, the top losers were Petronet LNG, Multi Commodity Exchange of India and BSE. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25900 - 26100 calls and 19000 - 20000 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 0.04% and reached 22.81. The 50 share Nifty up by 112.35 point or 0.49% to settle at 23,114.50.

Nifty March 2026 futures closed at 23146.00 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 31.50 points over spot closing of 23114.50, while Nifty April 2026 futures ended at 23276.00 (LTP), at a premium of 161.50 points over spot closing. Nifty March futures saw an addition of 8,187 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,71,483 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on March 30, 2026. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, HDFC Bank March 2026 futures traded at a premium of 1.95 points at 782.95 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 781.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 108,560. (Provisional)

Reliance Industries March 2026 futures traded at a premium of 3.40 points at 1417.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1413.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 40,530. (Provisional)

Infosys March 2026 futures traded at a discount of 7.30 points at 1248.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1256.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 38,395. (Provisional)

Tata Consultancy Services March 2026 futures traded at a discount of 4.60 points at 2393.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2397.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,549. (Provisional)

ITC March 2026 futures traded at a premium of 0.20 points at 300.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 299.80. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,720. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 24000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 2,026 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 23000 SP from the March month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 10,167 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 26000 SP (80,382 units) and that for Puts was at 19000 SP (88,278 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 23283.90 -- Pivot Point 23175.75 -- Support 23006.35.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.08) for March month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Jindal Steel (1.23), RBL Bank (1.07), GAIL (India) (1.05), LIC Housing Finance (0.93), and Torrent Pharmaceuticals (0.91).

Among most active underlying HDFC Bank witnessed an addition of 34,413 units of Open Interest in the March month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 10,106 units of Open Interest in the March month future, Multi Commodity Exchange of India witnessed an addition of 32 units of Open Interest in the March month future, ICICI Bank witnessed an addition of 4,586 units of Open Interest in the March month futures and State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 1,548 units of Open Interest in the March month futures. (Provisional).