Market to open firm

The market sentiment is likely to remain bullish following firm Asian markets in current trades and overnight gains in US markets. The renewed buying interest in heavyweights may keep the bias positive for the day. Among the key domestic indices, the Nifty could test higher levels in the 2660-2700 range and has a support at 2560. The Sensex has a likely support at 8240 and may face resistance at 8500.

US indices finished higher on Thursday with the Dow Jones closing 3.46 % higher at 7170, up 240 points, while the Nasdaq changed 54 points up to close at 1426.

The upsurge in both the domestic and US markets spurred the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses. Tata Motors led the pack with gains of 10.57% followed by Rediff gaining 9.15% while Patni Computer, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Infosys, Dr Reddy, HDFC Bank, VSNL and Satyam surged over 1-7% each. However, MTNL slipped around 2%.

Crude oil prices in the international market moved up, with the Nymex light crude oil for April delivery rising by $4.70 to close at $47.03 per barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for April series surged by $13.30 to settle at $924 a troy ounce.