Sensex in sight of 19k

The Sensex could breach the psychological 19000 level for the first time provided the market continues with the Thursday's uptrend. The bullish sentiment on the back of strong buying, higher fund inflows into the equities, global crude oil price trading around $83 a barrel and key interest rates being kept unchanged by the US Fed are indications that the Sensex may soon surpass the 19k mark. The market may come under pressure in early trades following extensive selling in morning trades in Nikkei, Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi.

US indices faltered on Thursday. The indices ended in the red , While the Dow Jones dropped 64 points at 14015, the Nasdaq ended 39 points lower at 2772.

Barring few, majority of the Indian floats ended at lower levels. Infosys, Wipro and rediff was the biggest loser and tumled nearly 6% each. Satyam and Patni Computers shed over 5% each while HDFC bank, Dr Reddy and ICICI Bank, declined over 1% each. However, VSNL bucked the downtrend and soares 3% while MTNL and Tata Motors was up nearly 2%.

On the crude oil front, the Nymex light crude oil for November series moved up by $1.07 at $83.09 a barrel and Comex gold for December delivery rose $10.70 settle at $756.70 a troy ounce.