Market may remain choppy

The market is expected to stay sideways in absence of major positive trigger in near term. However high volatility may be seen as the market consolidates at higher levels. Overseas cues will also to some extent dictate the near term sentiment. However small and mid-cap stocks may continue their rally on momentum buying, as indicated by strong market breadth in the past few days.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slumped 271.48 points or 1.33% to 20,104.39, yesterday 13 December 2007 after striking an all time high of 20,498.11 in early trade. The S&P CNX Nifty declined 101.2 points or 1.64% to 6,058.10. It had also hit a record high of 6,185.40 in early trade.

Asian markets were trading lower today, 14 December 2007. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.19% at 27,692.63), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.80% at 8,122.54), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.30% at 3,468.85), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.53% at 1,905.82) declined. However, Japan's Nikkei gained 0.62% at 15,632.72.

US markets finished on a mixed note yesterday, 14 December 2007 as worries about a weakening economy and credit crunch continued. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.06 points, or 0.33%, to 13,517.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose marginally by 1.82 points, or 0.12%, to 1,488.41, while the Nasdaq Composite index slipped 2.65 points, or 0.10%, to 2,668.49.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 401.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 226.65 crore on Thursday, 13 December 2007.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 1,127 crore in the futures & options (F&O) market on Thursday, 13 December 2007. They were net sellers of Rs 1,170 crore in index futures, and Rs 291 crore in stock futures. However they bought Rs 334 crore worth index options.

Oil rose marginally in thin trade on Friday, 14 December 2007. U.S. light sweet crude futures for January delivery rose 36 cents to $92.61 a barrel. London Brent crude rose 41 cents to $92.53.