Weak Asian indices indicate a negative open

Unabated correction in overseas markets likely to keep the sentiment bearish. Major factors like FIIs continuing offloading in equities my also add pressure. Among the key indices, the Nifty may decline to 4300 while on the upside the index faces resistance in the 4400-4440 range. The Sensex has a likely support at 14700 and could test higher levels of 15140.

US indices tumbled on Wednesday, with the Dow industrials closing at a four-month low as Countrywide Financial revived worries about the credit and mortgage markets. While the Dow Jones declined 167 points at 12861, the Nasdaq dropped 40 points to close at 2459 on weakness in tech stocks.

All the Indian ADRs were battered on the US bourses. ICICI Bank tumbled 6.1% followed by VSNL, Satyam and HDFC Bank slipping over 4-5% each. Among the other major losers Infosys, Wipro, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's and Patni computers plummeted 1-3% each. However MTNL bucked the trend and gained around 1%.

Crude oil prices moved up, with the Nymex light crude oil for September delivery gaining by 95 cents at $73.33 a barrel. In the commodity segment, the Comex gold for December series remained unchanged at $679.70 a troy ounce.