Market likely to move sideways

The market is likely to move sideways on account of strong intra-day volatility. Stocks across sectors including the heavyweights may gyrate sharply. However, US indices closed on a positive note last night. The mixed Asian markets in the morning trades may further dampen the investor sentiment. On the technical side, the Nifty has a stiff resistance at 4965 and downside cap at 4795 while the Sensex could test higher levels of 16500 and has a likely support at 16195.

Among the major corporates, Colgate, GSFC, Deepak Fertilizers, Nagarjuna Construction, Punj Lloyd, Sobha Developers, Sun Pharma and Tata Tea are expected to announce their quarterly numbers today.

US indices registered steady gains on Thursday with the Dow Jones gaining 52 points to close at 12646 and the Nasdaq rising 22 points at 2508.

Indian floats largely had a mixed trend on the US bourses. Satyam rose 3.89% at $27.51, Wipro gained 2.37% at $13.83 and Infosys advanced 2.19% at $45.35. Dr Reddy's and Rediff ended with steady gains. Among the laggards, Tata Motors was the major loser with a loss of 4.68% at $13.85 and MTNL lost 3.81% at $4.55. VSNL dropped 1.99% at $23.66, ICICI Bank tumbled 0.97% at $37.71, HDFC Bank lost 0.83% at $97.62 and Patni Computer was down 0.53% at $13.08.

Crude oil prices in the US market slipped sharply on Thursday, with the Nymex light crude oil for July delivery falling by $4.41 to close at $126.62 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for August series lost $23.80 to settle at $881.20 a troy ounce.