Market may remain cautious

The market is likely to witness cautious trend as major Asian gauges like the Nikkei, the Kospi index and the Jakarta index have declined in current trades and may drag down the indices in early trades. Although the domestic indices moved up in the last couple of sessions, intra-day volatility remains the major concern. Among the local indices, the Nifty may slip to 2900 and 2850 while on the upside it could test 3000 to 3050 level. The Sensex has a likely support at 9300 and could test higher levels at 9600.

US indices closed weak on Tuesday as investors stepped back after the previous session's big rally, Wall Street's best in four months. While the Dow Jones dropped 115 points at 7660, the Nasdaq was down 39 points at 1517.

Indian floats, also, bucked the weak US market trend and ended lower. Patni Computer, HDFC Bank and MTNL lost over 5-8% each, while Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Dr Reddy, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and VSNL lost around 1-4% each. Rediff however, was the only gainer amongst the ADRs and gained by 1.22% respectively.

Crude oil prices gained marginally. The US light crude oil for May series advanced by 18 cents at $53.98 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for April delivery declined by $28.70 to settle at $923.80 an ounce.