Bias remains positive

The market is expected to remain positive with a sideways movement during intra-day trades. The Asian indices are exhibiting a firm trend in the ongoing trades may see the market sentiment remains positive. Among the key domestic indices, the Nifty may rise to 5600 on the upside and has a support at 5400. The Sensex has a likely support at 18000 and may face resistance at 19000.

US indices ended lower for the second straight session on Thursday as record high oil prices in addition to lackluster earnings and economic reports fueling investors' concerns about the US economy. While the Dow Jones slipped by three points at 13672, the Nasdaq moved down by 24 points at 2751.

Barring few, most of the Indian floats finished in the red. Satyam tumbled over 4% while Dr Reddy's, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, MTNL and HDFC Bank slipped over 1-2% each. While Infosys, Wipro and VSNL ended with a gain of 1-3%.

Crude oil prices rose to record high above $91 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since trading began in 1983, as unexpected drop in US stockpiles and concerns that supply from Middle East may be disturbed. While the Nymex light crude oil for December delivery rose by $3.36 to close at $90.46 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for December series jumped $5.40 to settle at $771 an ounce.