The key indices despite witnessing good opening in the morning, closed with marginal gains on Wednesday as investors opted to take some profit off the table after strong rally for past couple of sessions. The early gains helped the 50-share NSE Nifty to conquer the psychological level of 5300 in opening trades and touch its 22 months high but the index soon after drifted into red on selling in information technology (IT) stocks. The rupee extended its gains against the dollar for third day in a row which dampened sentiments for software stocks in trade. In early afternoon session the markets managed to claw back losses to enter the green once again. Sustained buying in the market heavyweight, RIL helped the key indices to shut shop in the green at the end. Healthcare and realty stocks were the other major gainers in trade while previous days' star performer metal pack witnessed some profit booking in trade. Selective selling was seen in few auto majors as well. D B Corp made a grand debut on the bourses and finally ended with gains of about 25% from its issue price of Rs 212. The broader indices continued their strong run-up for third straight day of 2010. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 14.89 points or 0.08% to close at 17,701.13, while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 3.90 points or 0.07% to settle at 5281.80.

The US markets again made a mixed close on Wednesday; there were some good news and offsetting them some bad too, which lead to another day of consolidation for the markets. Now investors are awaiting the government's monthly employment report on Friday to get clear direction. In initial trade a sign of growth in the services industry gave some support to stocks as the Institute for Supply Management said its services index rose to 50.1 in December from 48.7 in November but later the ADP National Employment Report came in worse than the forecasts of analysts and thereafter markets consolidated. The Dow Jones industrial average just managed a close in green, up by 1.66 points, or 0.02%, to 10,573.68. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 0.62 points, or 0.05%, to 1,137.14, while the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 7.62 points, or 0.33%, to 2,301.09.

Crude prices continued to surge on Wednesday and went past $83 a barrel for the first time since the fall of 2008, its 14 month high closing. The dollar's weakness against the euro and a basket of currencies helped oil regain its uptrend after having fallen briefly in the morning. Benchmark crude settled up $1.41 at $83.18 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since October 9, 2008. In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose $1.30 to settle at $81.89 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Indian rupee surged past to its eleven month high on Wednesday tracking the advances in the local stock markets that moved to touch its 22 month high. The currency took support from the report of Yuan revaluation. It was being said that China could increase the yuan's exchange rate by 10 per cent in a one-off revaluation. Finally the rupee closed at 45.86, 40 paise higher compared to its Tuesday's close of 46.26.

The FII on Wednesday were the net buyers in both equity as well as debt segments. In equity segment the gross buying was of Rs 3338.30 crore against gross sell of Rs 2276.30 crore, while in the debt segment the gross purchase was of Rs 1265.90 crore with gross sales of Rs 942.40 crore.

The US markets once again made a mixed close; some economic indicators came good while some turned sour. The Asian markets have made a weakish kind of start and some of the indices are trading with a cut of about half a percent. The domestic markets too seem to be in the consolidation mood, as in previous trading they barely managed a flat but positive close. The oil & gas sector might see some upmove while the weakness in the dollar might continue to weigh on the IT stocks.

Support and Resistance: S&P CNX Nifty and BSE Sensex

                                                          Nifty Top volumes