Action may continue

The market may show more exuberance and advance further on the back of bullish sentiment amongst investors. On Firday, the Sensex closed above 17100 mark on amid buying in several heavyweight and sectoral stocks. In morning trades, upmove in several Asian indices like Nikkei, Kospi and Jakarta may help the domestic indices commence in positive territory. On the technical side, the Nifty could test upper levels at 5180 and 5200 and should find support in the 5043-4977 range, while the Sensex may face resistance at 17300 and test lower levels at 16950.

On the earnings front, Alok Industries, Bata India, CESC, Eicher Motor, Finolex Cable, Glenmark Pharma, Godrej, Hexaware, REL, RNRL, SESA Goa and Welspun Gujarat etc are some of the major results to be announced today.

US indices on Monday displayed mixed trend. While buying action in technology stocks helped the Dow gain 43 points at 12892 and Nasdaq moved down 6 points at 2423.

Among the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, Rediff was the major gainer by 9.42%, followed by ICICI Bank up by 5.24%. HDFC Bank & MTNL were up by 4%, while Wipro registered at gain of around 2% and Dr Reddy, Infosys and VSNL ended in Positive Territory. However, Patni Computer, Tata Motors and Satyam slipped into the red.

Crude oil prices in the US market raised sharply, with the Nymex light crude oil for June 08 delivery gained by $2.46 to close at $118.52 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for June 08 series advanced 30 cents to settle at $889.70 an ounce.