Stocks in India pared all early gains Tuesday due to weak cues from European markets. Stocks there fell for a third day, led by manufacturers, steelmakers and banks on concern that rising oil prices will deteriorate corporate earnings.

Back home, the indices slipped into negative territory as frenzied selling was witnessed in frontline consumer durables and PSU stocks. Nifty closed 0.31 per cent lower at 4859.

Nifty May futures settled at a discount of 9 points to the spot. The rollover to Nifty June futures was 42 per cent. Nifty May price slipped 0.47 per cent while open interest added 15 lakh shares.

Rising open interest coupled with negative cost of carry indicates build up of shorts.

Huge build up of positions was seen in 5000 call on Nifty while 5100 shed positions. Put of strike 4800 added positions while 4900 shed huge open interest. The options data indicates resistance at 5000 and support at 4800 levels.

Weak global cues coupled with firm oil prices will check the gains. The market is likely to remain volatile in a narrow range ahead of May futures expiry Thursday. It will remain choppy in the near term and may test March lows," said Aniruddha Kumar, derivatives fund manager at DBM Wealth Management.

In stocks futures, Reliance Industries May contract price slipped 0.94 per cent and shed 3.2 lakh shares in open interest. Cairn India May price fell by 2.8 per cent, and Reliance Petroleum was down by 1.91 per cent.

Oriental Bank futures price plummeted 5.55 per cent and it shed positions in open interest. SBI May price plunged 4.25 per cent and ICICI Bank dropped 1.27 per cent.

IT stocks were trading higher today. Wipro May contract price gained 2 per cent and added 2.5 lakh shares in open interest. Satyam Computer jumped 3.22 per cent and it added 4 lakh shares in open interest. I-Flex futures price climbed 1.82 per cent.

Reliance Capital May price slumped 3.09 per cent and shed 3.8 lakh shares in open interest. Reliance Infra gained 0.8 per cent on short covering. Larsen & Toubro slipped 0.17 per cent.

DLF May contract price dropped 0.43 per cent and open interest shed 4.5 lakh shares. Unitech futures price fell 4 per cent while HDIL jumped 4 per cent on short covering.

Low rollovers were seen in stocks futures also--DLF (50%), GMR Infra (45.93%), HPCL (48.50%), Idea Cellular (28.49%), NTPC (42.74%), ONGC (48.89%), Rcom (51.86%), RIL (30.54%), RPower (40.56%), RNRL (32.36%), RPL (39.74%), SAIL (35.51%), Suzlon (49.96%) and Tata Steel (48.98%).

Total F&O turnover on NSE was Rs 49,968 crore, up 13 per cent. India Volatility Index ended at 28.59, down 13.3 per cent from Monday.