Market likely to remain positive

Optimism is likely to continue on strong Asian indices in morning trades and overnight gains in US markets. Decent earnings numbers reported by number of companies may also help the market advance further. However, FII remaining net sellers in equities may hurt the market sentiment. Among the local indices, the Nifty could test 5350 on the upside and may slip to 4600 on the downside. The Sensex has a likely support at 15900 and may face resistance at 18000. On the earnings front Adani Enterprises, Alstom, Asian Paints, Essar Oil, Godrej Industries, Lanco Infra, Praj Industries, Sail, Sterlite, Suzlon, Tata Power, Thermax, Torrent Power, Triveni Engineering and Yes Bank are expected to announce their quarterly numbers.

Major US indices registered significant gains on Monday, on expectations that the Federal Reserve may further cut the interest rate by half a percentage point. While the Dow Jones flared up by 177 points at 12384, the Nasdaq moved up by 23 points to close at 2350.

Crude oil prices gained marginally, with the Nymex light crude oil for March delivery gaining by 28 cents to close at $90.99 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for February delivery jumped $16.40 to settle at $927.10 an ounce.