The frontline indices are likely to open flat on Friday as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India. Asian shares advanced after upbeat data and optimism in the tech sector lifted Wall Street stocks, helping calm some of the jitters sparked by the Federal Reserve’s cautious outlook on the world’s biggest economy. The US Federal Reserve at its March meeting said it would be patient in changing policy rates. The move comes in the backdrop of global economic concerns and muted inflationary pressures. Oil prices on Friday hovered close to 2019 peaks reached the previous day, propped up by supply cuts led by producer club OPEC and by US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. The rupee Wednesday recovered by 13 paise to close at 68.83 against the US dollar amid sustained buying by foreign investors in domestic equity markets and lower crude prices. Back home, bearish trends in the SGX Nifty Index Futures for March delivery, which were trading at 11,581.00, low by 11.00 points or 0.09 per cent, at 10:54 AM, Singapore Time, also indicated a flat start for local bourses. On the macro front, RBI is likely to ease disclosure rules on the transfer of various categories of state government bonds held by high-street lenders. Lenders need not disclose the transfer of state bonds from the held-to-maturity (HTM) category to the available-for-sale (AFS) segment. On the corporate front, the board of Mindtree, which Wednesday deferred a decision on share buyback, will meet again on March 26 even as it faces a Rs 10,800-crore hostile takeover bid from L&T. Tata Steel will likely offer parts of its European packaging activities in a bid to seek regulatory approval for a planned joint venture with Germany's Thyssenkrupp, as per a Reuters report. The 30-share index closed at 38386.75 up by 23.28 points or by 0.06 per cent and then NSE Nifty was at 11521.05 down by -11.35 points or by -0.1 per cent. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 38489.81 and intraday low of 38316.21 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 11556.1 and intraday low of 11503.1.

Top traded Volumes on NSE Nifty – Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. 36067181.00, Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. 28675956.00, NTPC Ltd. 28098992.00, YES Bank Ltd. 26817389.00, Coal India Ltd. 20268896.00.

On NSE, total number of shares traded was 171.00 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs. 35524.98 Crore.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 251470 with a total turnover of Rs. 18268.87 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 933303 with a total turnover of Rs. 57890.47 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 27297068 with a total turnover of Rs. 1749948.43 Crore. and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 902132 with a total turnover of Rs. 58975.92 Crore.

As on March 20, 2019, the FIIs stood as net buyer in equity and debt market. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs. 6586.33 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs. 3635.54 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs. 4396.76 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 983.80 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs. 2189.57 Crore and Rs. 2651.74.