Upturn may continue

After yesterday's pullback the market bias remains positive. The overnight gains in US markets and the major Asian indices like Nikkei, Hang Sang, Kospi, Straits Times and Jakarta Composite are trading with gains at nearly 2% each. The falling crude oil prices may help the investor sentiment remain bullish. However, the Federal Reserve left a key short-term interest rate unchanged The investors should remain cautious as intra-day volatility can not be ruled out. Among the domestic indices, the Nifty could test higher levels of 4540 and may dip to 4470 on the downside. The Sensex has a likely support at 15150 and may face resistance at 14870.

US indices surged to one of the year's biggest gains Tuesday, as oil prices fell sharply and investors appeared to take solace in the Federal Reserve's assessment of the nation's economy. While the Dow Jones was up by 332 points at 11616, the Nasdaq ended 64 points up at 2350.

Most of the Indian floats ended with gains on the US bourses. ICICI Bank led the gainers with gain of 15.54% follows by HDFC Bank advanced 11.63% and Tata Motors up by 8.64%. While VSNL and Wipro rose around 5% Infosys, Satyam, Patni Computer and Dr Reddy gained over 1-3% each. However, MTNL and Rediff lost over 1-2%.

Crude oil prices fell as the Fed holds rates steady, sparking more demand concerns for oil. While the Nymex light crude oil for September delivery slipped by $2.24 at $119.17 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for December series moved down by $21.80 to settle at $886.10 a troy.