Market likely to open positive

The market is likely to display positive trend as fund inflows continues into the domestic equities and players are maintaining their bets on large caps, banking and energy counters. However, the market is likely to witness cautious trend as the major Asian indices are trading flat in the ongoing trades and intra-day volatility remains the major factor. Among the local indices, the Nifty could test the 6400-6600 range on the upside while on the down side it could find support at 5,980 and 5,675. The Sensex is likely to get support at 19,500 and may face resistance at 21,000. On the earnings front Apollo Tyre, Morpen Laboratories and Orient Paper are expected to announce their quarterly numbers.

Major US indices registered significant gains on Monday, as the Dow finished with the gains of 172 points, helped by strong earnings from IBM boosting technology stocks followed by anticipation of another Fed interest rate cut. While the Dow Jones closed at 12,778, the Nasdaq moved up by 38 points to close at 2,478.

Except Dr Reddy's and ICICI Bank all the Indian ADRs traded firm on the US bourses. MTNL led the pack with gains of 5.69% while Infosys, Satyam, Wipro, Tata Motors, VSNL and HDFC Bank jumped over 1-4% each.

Crude oil prices advanced further, with the Nymex light crude oil for February delivery gaining by $1.51 to close at $92.69 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for February delivery gained $5.70 to settle at $903.40 an ounce.