Market may exhibit strong volatility

A look at how the indices fared at their closes: Sensex 13137.49 (+0.50%); Nifty 3796.40 (+0.51%); Nasdaq 2376.01 (-0.37%); Dow 12103.30 (-0.60%). On Nov 08 2006, FIIs were net sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs 6.20 crore (purchases worth Rs1960.80 crore and sales of Rs1967.00 crore) while domestic mutual funds were net sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs274.92 crore (purchases worth Rs387.17 crore and sales of Rs662.09 crore).

The market is likely to remain under pressure and may exhibit strong volatility following an overnight fall on the US market and weakness among major Asian indices in the ongoing trades. On the technical front, the Nifty in the short term could test 3780 on the upside and has a support in the 3805-3820 range. The Sensex may face resistance at 13158 and could test lower levels at 12950.

U.S. indices fell for the first time in three days on Thursday, as investors worried that a Democrat-controlled Congress may move to curb prices, with the Dow Jones moving down by 73 points at 12103, the Nasdaq dropping by nine points to close at 2376.

Most of the Indian floats trading on the US bourses closed in the green. ICICI Bank was the major gainer and advanced over 3% followed by Infosys and and VSNL which were up over 2% each. HDFC Bank rose nearly 2% while Patni Computers & Satyam gained 1% each. However, Rediff dropped over 1.5% while Dr Reddy's, Tata Motors Wipro and MTNL ended marginally lower.

Crude oil prices edged higher, with the Nymex Light Crude oil for December delivery gaining $1.33 to close at $61.16 a barrel, while the London Brent crude added $1.11 to close at $59.59 per barrel. In the Commodity space, the Comex gold for December series moved up $18.50 to settle at $636.80 an ounce.