Market may advance further

Optimism is likely to continue on strong bullish sentiment, decent earnings numbers reported by number of companies and strong FII inflows in last few sessions. The strong Asian indices in morning trades and overnight gains in US markets may help the market advance further. However, global crude oil prices trading near $76 a barrel may hurt the market sentiment. Among the local indices, the Nifty could test 4600 on the upside and may slip to 4500 on the downside. The Sensex has a likely support at 15300 and may face resistance at 15750. On the earnings front Ambuja Cement, BASF India, Cipla, Exide Industries, Finolex Cables, IPCA Labs, Jain Irrigation, Kirloskar Brothers, Neyveli Lignite, Raymond, Satyam Computer, United Breweries and Voltas are expected to announce their quarterly numbers.

Major US indices registered significant gains on Thursday, as the Dow finished above 14,000 for the first time ever, helped by positive corporate earnings. While the Dow Jones flared up by 82 points at 14000, the Nasdaq moved up by 21 points to close at 2720.

Except Rediff all the Indian ADRs traded firm on the US bourses. Tata Motors led the pack with gains of nearly 5% while Infosys, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank jumped over 3% each. Among other gainers Satyam, Wipro, VSNL, Patni Computer and Dr Reddy's added around 1-2% each.

Crude oil prices advanced further, with the Nymex light crude oil for August delivery gaining by 87 cents to close at $75.92 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for August delivery gained $4.40 to settle at $678.10 an ounce.