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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Pre-Market Watch


Market may remain weak

Although the market rebounded from its five straight losses in yesterday's trades, nervousness is likely to continue on concerns of FIIs turning net sellers in the last few sessions. Also the investors are waiting for a clear picture from the Reliance Industries demerger process that would commence in a short while in a special trading session arranged by the SEBI today.

The Nifty could test 2790 levels on the downside while it has a likely support at 2824 during intra-day trades. The Sensex has a likely support at 9240 and could test resistance at 9321.

After remaining closed on Monday, the US indices took a sharp beating on Tuesday as crude oil prices flared up nearly 4% on reports of further attacks on Nigeria's oil industry by the militants. As a result, the Dow Jones dropped 64 points at 10896 and the Nasdaq declined 14 points to close at 2303. The US market is likely to remain under pressure on Wednesday following a lower-than-expected quarterly numbers from IBM, Intel and Yahoo.

Indian ADRs, too, were hammered on the US bourses. Leading the slump Rediff tanked 10.51%, while VSNL, MTNL, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors dropped 3-4% each. Among other laggards HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's, Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and Patni Computers were down 1-2% each.

Crude oil prices rose sharply, with the Nymex light crude oil for February delivery soaring by $2.39 to settle at $66.31 a barrel. The London Brent crude was down 43 cents at $65.33 per barrel. In the commodity segment, the Comex gold dropped $2.70 to close at $554.30 an ounce.

Stocks to watch
Bajaj Auto to buyout 27% stake in Maharashtra Scooters for Rs151.63 crore.

Tata Consultancy Services to invest Rs6.3 crore in a joint venture partnership with the Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation.

Praj Industries is eyeing business in developed markets like the European Union and the US.