Market may move up

The market may edge higher amid steady-to-firm Asian markets. However, a major upmove is likely as traders are unlikely to build large positions ahead of a long weekend. The market remains closed on Friday, 21 December 2007 on account of Bakri Id and also on Tuesday, 25 December 2007 on account of Christmas.

Volatility may remain high in the near term ahead of expiry of December 2007 derivatives contracts next Thursday, 27 December 2007. Given a slew of holidays, only four trading sessions are left for expiry of December 2007 derivatives contracts.

Traders are likely to start building positions towards the end of the month based on expectations of Q3 December 2007 results due next month.

As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers of shares to the tune of Rs 1454.06 crore on Wednesday, 19 December 2007. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 350.60 crore on that day.

FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 461.11 crore in the futures & options segment on Wednesday. According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 400.23 crore and bought index options worth Rs 58.17 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 11.78 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 14.49 crore on that day.

The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 declined slightly on Wednesday, 19 December 2007, in light trading on concerns about more fallout from the housing slump. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 25.20 points, or 0.19%, to end at 13,207.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 1.98 points, or 0.14%, at 1,453.00. But the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 4.98 points, or 0.19%, to close at 2,601.01.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, China and South Korea, were up by between 0.06% to 1.6%. But Taiwan Weighted index was down 0.57% at 7,968.92.