Market may remain bearish

The market-mood is likely to remain bearish following weakness in the Asian and US indices.
The domestic market is likely to remain bearish after a report showing a big slowdown in the services sector of the US economy and comments from a Fed official about possible recession. Intra-day volatility and further slump in global commodity markets may also weigh on the sentiment. Among the major Asian indices like Nikkei 225, Hang Seng index and Straits Times index are down over 3-5% each in the ongoing trades. Key indices, the Nifty may get support at 4800-4550 levels and on the upside it could test higher levels at 5600. The Sensex has a likely support at 16000 and may face resistance at 18700.

US indices declined sharply on Tuesday after a report showed a big slowdown in the services sector in the economy and the comments from a Fed official indicating recession is underway or imminent. While the Dow Jones lost over 370 points seeing its worst one-day point loss in nearly three months to close at 12265, the Nasdaq lost 73 points to close at 2310.

Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, too, succumbed to heavy losses. Among the losers VSNL, Rediff, HDFC Bank, Satyam, Wipro Infosys, Dr Reddy's, MTNL and Patni Computers and Tata Motors shed over 4-6% each. However, Dr Reddy's Lab was up around 1%.

Crude oil prices declined marginally, with the Nymex light crude oil for March delivery tumbling by $1.61 to close at $88.41 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for April series lost $19.10 to settle at $890.30 a troy ounce.