Market may open positive

The modest rally in the US markets and a rise in several Asian indices in the ongoing trading session may help the domestic indices pull-back from lower levels. However, surge in oil prices and worries about FIIs remaining net sellers of equities in the domestic market could force the players to remain on the sidelines. The Nifty on the downside may dip to 4700 while on the upside it may test higher levels in the 5000-6000 range. The Sensex has a likely support at 16320 and may face resistance at 17200.

US indices bounced back on Monday as investors set aside worries about AIG's financials and Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft's proposed takeover. While the Dow Jones advanced by 58 points at 12240, the Nasdaq added 15 points to close at 2320.

Most of the Indian floats trading on the US bourses buckled under selling pressure. Tata Motors and HDFC Bank were the major losers and lost over 3% each, while Infosys, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, MTNL and ICICI Bank declined over 1% each. VSNL, however, jumped 9.20 % while Satyam and Rediff ended with decent gains.

Crude oil prices advanced further after the biggest US refinery Valero Energy Corp. shut its Delaweare refinary. The Nymex light crude oil for March delivery moved up by $1.82 to close at $93.59 a barrel, off its intra-day high of $94.50 per barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for April series added $4.40 to settle at $926.70 a troy ounce.