Late buying in heavyweight stocks helped the benchmark equity indices to end higher on Tuesday. Markets lingered in a flat territory in the first half of the day in the absence of any major trigger from global equities but unexpected buying in the latter part of the day helped the indices to notch up some good gains. The BSE Sensex reclaimed the 17,000-mark in trade while the S&P CNX Nifty has inched closer to 5150-level. Recovery in European markets after initial weakness also fuelled the rally in the domestic markets. Once again the entire trading session was dominated by big boy -- Reliance Industries (RIL) -- which surged almost two and a half percent on reports that it was speeding up acquisition talks of LyondellBasell. This boosted confidence among investors and they put all apprehensions behind them to do value picking in realty, consumer durables and metal stocks. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex soared 244.54 points or 1.44% to settle at 17,227.68, while the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty rose 81.25 points or 1.60% to end at 5147.95.

The US markets declined sharply on Tuesday, as investors rushed to safe heaven assets like dollar and treasury after the two major companies 3M Co. and McDonald's Corp. came with disappointing forecast. The other major reason of decline in stocks was the strength in dollar which, rose against other major currencies putting the commodities and energy stocks in pressure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 104.14 points, or 1%, to 10,285.97. It was the steepest point and percentage loss for the Dow since November 27.The broader S&P 500 index lost 11.31 points, or 1.03%, to 1,091.94, while the Nasdaq composite index was down by 16.62 points, or 0.76%, to 2,172.99.

Crude prices declined for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened. The risk appetite of the investors seemed declining also there were reports from Britain and Germany showing that the international manufacturing remains weak, putting further pressure on the crude prices. Benchmark crude for January delivery dropped $1.31 to settle at $72.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for January delivery fell $1.24 to settle at $75.19 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Indian rupee continued its weakness on Tuesday; the start of the currency was not bad as the dollar declined again after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the US central bank will keep the rates unchanged. But the weakness in the regional stock markets was putting pressure on the rupee, also there was some dollar demand from the oil importers. Finally the rupees closed at 46.67/68, 19 paise weaker compared to its Monday's close of 46.48.

The FII on Tuesday were the net sellers in both equity as well as debt segments. In equity segment the gross buying was of Rs 1937.00 crore against gross sell of Rs 1939.90 crore, while in the debt segment there was no purchase reported while the gross sales stood at  Rs 0.50 crore.

The US markets closed lower on Tuesday as the risk appetite of investors was seen receding and they opted to go for safe heavens instead of stocks. The Asian markets have made a very weak start and almost all the indices were trading in red and some indices were down by more than 1%.The domestic markets that made a splendid recovery in the last hours are likely to remain under pressure today due to bleak global cues. The strength in dollar might give some support to IT and technology stocks while on the same time can put commodities and oil & gas stocks under pressure.

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

                                                          Nifty Top volumes

• Bharti Airtel's Executive Director Syed Safawi, handling the telco's mobile operations in all the eastern circles has quit his post to pursue new challenges.
• Hindalco Industries has hiked its product prices by Rs 3000 per tonne with effect from December 1, 2009.
• Idea Cellular has slashed its roaming rates by nearly 50% for its GSM prepaid subscribers in Mumbai circle.
• Singapore has given an in-principle approval to ICICI Bank as a qualified full bank (QFB) status to operate as local bank.
• Steel ministry has asked Steel Authority of India to draw up a timetable for its Rs 60,000 crore modernisation programme.