Gains may continue

Yesterday's pullback and firm economy outlook may help the market advance further. Asian indices are displaying a subdued trend in the ongoing trades and may exert some pressure on the domestic indices. However, players are maintaining their bets on almost all the sectors. Among the key local indices, the Nifty has a support at 4040 and a break below this level could see it slip further to 4000-3980, while on the upside the index could test higher level at 4125. The Sensex has a likely support at 13700 and may face resistance at 14300.

Major US indices registered significant gains on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average ending at a record high, on the reports that the Fed Reserve will not hike short-term interest rates. While the Dow Jones flared up by 54 points at 13363, the Nasdaq moved up by 4 points to close at 2576.

Most of the Indian ADRs traded firm on the US bourses. MTNL led the pack with gains of 3% while Infosys, Satyam, Wipro, HDFC Bank, MTNL, VSNL, Dr Reddy's and Rediff jumped over 1% each. Among the laggards Tata Motors lost 0.45%.

Crude oil prices eased, with the Nymex light crude oil for June delivery falling by 71 cents to close at $61.55 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for June delivery slipped by $4.90 to settle at $682.50 an ounce.