Volatility ahead

Yesterday's pull back after consecutive two weak sessions followed by strong global markets, the bias remains positive. However, today is being the last day of derivatives expiry for January series and there has not been too much roll over from investors followed by weak Asian markets in the morning trades, caution should me maintained on account of intra-day volatility. Although most of the quarterly numbers announced so far have met market expectations, players are concerned over sliding FII & MF inflows. Among the local indices, the Nifty could test higher levels around the 4100 level and has a support at 4060. The Sensex on the downside may slip to 14040 and may face resistance at 14157. On the results front BHEL, Century Textiles, TVS Motors, Titan Industries, Hindalco, Great Eastern Shipping are scheduled to announce their numbers.

US indices ended in the positive territory with Dow hitting the new record all-time high on Wednesday on account of upbeat quarterly results from Yahoo and Sun Microsystems . While the Dow Jones rose by 88 points to close at 12622, the Nasdaq ended 35 points up at 2466.

Most of the Indian ADRs were gainers on the US bourses. Rediff rallied sharply and soared over 5.44% followed by Patni Computers gained 4.53% while Wipro, HDFC Bank, MTNL, VSNL ,ICICI Bank ended with steady gains. Tata Motors fell sharply and tumbled over 2.75% and Satyam declined by 0.87%.

Crude oil prices gained in the last session. The Nymex light crude oil for March delivery rose 33 cents to close at $55.37. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for February series added $2.30 to settle at $648.20 a troy ounce.