Domestic markets finally cut-short a four-day winning streak on Tuesday after investors opted to book profits in the second half of trade. The drop on the domestic bourses came despite positive trend in rest of the global markets as investors became wary of the course markets would take up in the near term. Markets traded in tune with its global peers till noon, but the slide began just after the finance minister at the India Economic Summit said that government will have to take measures to wind back stimulus in due course. Realty and technology counters failed to magnetize investors and were chiefly accountable for markets' fall, while public sector undertaking and metal shares deserve all praises for their efforts to curtail any major losses. Heavy-weights like Bharti Airtel, Hero Honda were badly hit. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 58.16 points or 0.35 % to end at 16,440.56, while the S&P CNX Nifty plunged 16.7 points or 0.34% to settle at 4881.70.

The US markets once again returned to the cautious mood after a big rally, the major indices closed flat with negative bias on Tuesday. Shares of industrial materials companies and banks, which led the rally in previous trading, suffered the profit booking while the shares in the healthcare and utilities sectors were among the few gainers. The other factor that supported the decline was the strength in dollar. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 20.03 points, or 0.20%, to 10,246.97, its highest close since October 3, 2008. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index after consecutive gains of six days lost 0.07 points, or 0.10%, to 1,093.01 and the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 2.98 points, or 0.14%, to 2,151.08.

Oil prices declined on Tuesday as the fear of storm Ida receded, Ida, once a Category 1 hurricane, was downgraded to a tropical stormon Monday and was further downgraded, as its winds lost their strength and workers headed back to deep sea platforms.Benchmark crude for December delivery fell 37 cents to settle at $79.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for December delivery fell $1.26 to $76.51 on the ICE Futures exchange

The Indian rupee closed almost flat on Tuesday,the start of the domestic currency was good tracking the gains in the regional and local stock markets, but when the equity markets reversed their gain in second half of the trade, the rupee too turned weak and closed marginally lower. On the same time dollar too edged up after declining for last couple of days against other major currencies. The rupee closed at 46.48/49, 3 paise weaker compared to its Monday's close of 46.45/46.

The FII on Tuesday were the net buyers in the equity segment with gross buying of Rs 2280.20 crore against gross sell of Rs 1631.00 crore, while in the debt segment they were the net sellers with a gross purchase of Rs 469.70 crore against gross sales of Rs 2272.30 crore.

The US markets entered the cautious mood on Tuesday as the investors decided to go slow after the recent rally. The Asian markets have made a mixed opening and some of the indices are trading marginally lower, giving a cue of cautious opening for the domestic markets. The recent rally led to a profit booking in the second half of previous trading for the local markets though, the Finance Minister's statement that India will focus on driving domestic demand until key developed markets recover and will not exit fiscal stimulus measures until necessary,is likely to boost the morale of the markets and some gains can be expected in late hours.

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

                                                             Nifty Top volumes

• Suzlon Wind Energy, the North American subsidiary of Suzlon Energy, has completed the Silver Sage wind power project.
• RIL has announced the first oil discovery in the on land exploratory block CB-ONN-2003/1, awarded under the NELP-V round of exploration bidding.
• It has been reported that government may consider selling its 8.9% L&T stake it holds via Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) to BHEL.
• HCL Technologies' company is considering some small acquisitions over the next year.
• State Bank of India is in talks to raise a $300 million syndicated loan for software company HCL Technologies.

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