Slide may continue

The south-bound trend in the market is likely to continue on the back of a weak global indices. Intra-day volatility and further slump in FIIs may also weigh on the sentiment. Among the key domestic indices, the Nifty may test 2730 on the downside while on the upside the index could test higher levels of 2800, while the Sensex could test higher levels of 9200 and has a likely support at 8900.

US indices faltered at 3-month lows, with Wall Street sliding even as President Obama signed into law the $787 billion economic stimulus plan. While the Dow Jones dropped 298 points to close at 7553, the Nasdaq ended 64 points lower at 1471.

Barring Tata Motors, the remaining ADRs ended with losses on the US bourses. ICICI Bank and VSNL dropped over 11-13% each while Patni Computer, MTNL, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, Dr Reddy and Rediff were down around 2-8% each.

Crude oil prices inched lower, with the Nymex light crude oil for March delivery slipping by $2.58 at $34.93 a barrel and in the commodity segment, the Comex gold for April 09 series slumped $25.30 to settle at $967.50 an ounce.