There was a bloodbath on the domestic equities in the Friday's trade on heightened concerns over European sovereign debt triggering heavy sell-off across the global markets. Pressure was seen since very beginning and every effort from the bulls to trim the losses got thrashed with intense selling. Weakness in the other Asian shares also weighed on the local markets. With funds and investors pressing the panic button, the BSE's 30-share Sensex and NSE's 50-share Nifty slipped below the crucial 16,000 and 4700 levels, respectively in trade. Minor pull-back helped the Nifty to claw back above the 4700-mark. Realty stocks fell most during the session on the apprehensions over rate hike while decline in the commodity prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) pulled the metal stocks lower in trade. Lukewarm response to the follow-on-public offering (FPO) of the nation's largest power utility -- NTPC -- spread jitters in the public sector undertaking (PSU) space, which was buzzing since last month on the divestment plan of the company. Index heavyweights, ONGC and RIL, were no exception to the tepid mood on the Dalal Street.There was a special 90 minute session on Saturday so that the National Stock Exchange can test an upgraded trading system. The special session of trade proved soothing one for the bulls after the Friday's bloodbath. The domestic equity indices registered handsome gains in the one and a half hour buoyed by the positive close on the Wall Street in overnight trade. The BSE Sensex advanced 124.72 points or 0.79% to shut shop at 15,915.65 while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 38.60 points or 0.82% to settle at 4757.25.

The US markets managed a marginally higher close on Friday, the major indices were able to pare their early losses in the last hours though, the investors were still seeming concerned that European governments will have trouble getting their massive deficits under control and it might impact the global economic recovery. The recovery in the last hour came due to Federal Reserve's announcement that consumers borrowed less for an 11th straight month in December. It also said total borrowing fell far less than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 10.05 points, or 0.10%, to 10,012.23 after being down as much as 167 points. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 3.07 points, or 0.29%, to 1,066.19. The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.69 points, or 0.74%, to 2,141.12.

Crude prices continued to decline on Friday despite the daily volume of near month crude oil futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange hitting a record. The crude prices fell below $70 a barrel to a seven-week low in their intraday trade due to strengthening dollar and mixed jobs report. Benchmark crude for March delivery was down $3.05, or 4.17 percent, at $70.09 a barrel, trading from $69.50, the lowest since December 15's intraday low of $69.31. In London, March Brent crude was down $3.66, or 5.07 percent, at $68.47 a barrel.

The Indian rupee continued its downward movement on Friday and declined heavily, tracking the losses in domestic share markets and the strength of dollar against other major currencies. The rupee was in somber mood since beginning as the global equity markets were giving cue of bad start for the local equity markets. The local equity markets plunged by more than 2.5% in sync with other global markets on the same time the euro declined to its seven month low against dollar. Finally the rupee closed at 46.72/73, 46 paise lower compared to its Thursday's close of 46.26.

The FII on Friday were the net sellers in the equity segment with gross buying of Rs 1741.60 crore against gross sell of Rs 1784.10 crore, while in the debt segment they were the net buyers with a gross purchase of Rs 754.30 crore against gross sales of Rs 263.30 crore.

The US markets closed marginally higher on Friday, few positive indications from Fed helped the markets gain confidence and the major indices managed a close in green. The Asian markets have made a mixed start not picking from the US markets positive close. The Indian markets gained in a special session on Saturday recovering some of its previous losses. Today the start is likely to be cautious and remain range bound. Jubilant Foodworks will get listed on the bourses today.

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

                                                          Nifty Top volumes

• Suzlon Energy's CMD Tulsi Tanti has said that India needs to expand the wind energy sector faster than it has in the past.
• The USFDA has made public the warning letter issued in December to Ohm Laboratories, which is one of Ranbaxy's US facilities.
• Ambuja Cements has reported a net profit of Rs 1,218.37 crore for December quarter, down 13.11% compared to Rs 1,402.27 crore in same quarter last year
• It has been reported that Reliance Industries has submitted a $ 2 billion expression of interest for private Canadian firm Value Creation Inc.
• Tata Steel's sales from its Indian operations rose 9 percent in January to 556,000 tonnes.