Bias may remain cautious

The fall in the US markets coupled with subdued Asian markets in morning trades and dwindling FII inflows may weigh on local indices in early trades and thereafter could exhibit volatility during the intra-day trades. However, the pullbacks in the past few sessions may add to the market advantage and help the sentiment turn positive. Key local indices, the Nifty could test higher levels around 4250-4260 range in the short term and has a key support at 4100. The Sensex is likely to test 14300 on the downside while it may face resistance at 14450.

US indices finished weak on Wednesday as rising Treasury bond yields sparked a late selloff despite a big drop in oil prices and a $22.5 billion share buyback plan from Home Depot. While the Dow Jones declined 146 points at 13489, the Nasdaq dropped 27 points to close at 2600 on weakness in tech stocks.

Few Indian ADRs slipped on the US bourses following a slump in the US market. ICICI Bank and Patni Computer tumbled over 2% each. Among the other major losers Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and Rediff shed around 1% each. However, Dr Reddy's, HDFC Bank, MTNL and VSNL gained over 1% each.

Crude oil prices moved down, with the Nymex light crude oil for June delivery slipped by 91 cents at $68.19 a barrel. In the commodity segment, the Comex gold for August series added $4.70 to settle at $660 a troy ounce.