Gains may continue

The overnight gains in international markets and positive opening in most of the Asian indices in ongoing trades may help the local market advance further. However, bouts of strong intra-day volatile moves and the FIIs remaining net sellers of equities may weigh on the sentiment. Among the key indices, the Nifty can see an up- move till 4350 levels and has a key support at 4220 levels in the near-term. The Sensex has a likely support at 14400 and may face resistance at 14600.

Major US indices finished flat on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but indicated it was still concerned about inflation. While the Dow Jones slipped by five points at 13422, the Nasdaq moved up by two points to close at 2608.

Most of the Indian ADRs posted marginal gains on the US bourses. Patni Computer led the pack with the gains of 1.61%, while HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and VSNL gained around 1% each. However, Dr Reddy's, Rediff and MTNL fell around 1% each.

Crude oil prices moved up marginally, with the Nymex light crude oil for August delivery gaining 60 cents to close at $69.57 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for August delivery surged $5.60 to settle at $650.40 an ounce.