The benchmark equity indices nosedived in late-hour on selling pressure to end near day's lows after remaining cautious for most part of the day. The markets got off to a flat start led by mixed cues from their Asian counterparts. They gyrated in a narrow range in most of early trades. In the late morning trades, the key indices started making efforts to turn positive but selling got intensified in the afternoon session tracking weak opening of European markets. The intraday volatility remained high. Realty, software and technology counters caused most of the damage to the indices while consumer durables, banking and public sector undertaking counters witnessed marginal gains in trade. Some of the divestment candidates also got sold off, after remaining favourite for past couple of days. PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) could not hold on to their early gains and drifted lower in late trades. The government has paid Rs 12,000 crore to state-run OMCs for selling fuel at below the cost. Besides, the comments from Chief Statistician Pronab Sen that the inflation may touch double digits by March also dampened investors' sentiments during the session. Index heavyweights witnessed selling pressure during the final hours of trade. The BSE Sensex finished below the psychological 17,500-mark.The broader indices also signed off trade on a weak note. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 155.02 points or 0.88% to end at 17,486.06, while the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty declined 49.20 points or 0.93% to close at 5225.65.

The US markets bounced back after an extended weekend on Tuesday and the Dow, which lost considerably in the previous session surged to its fresh 15 month high. The markets surged on the back of rise in healthcare stocks and smart gains in the technology stocks. Traders were placing bets that the outcome of an election in Massachusetts would make it harder for President Barack Obama to make reforms in his health care agenda. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 115.78 points, or 1.09%, to 10,725.43. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 14.20 points, or 1.25%, to 1,150.23 while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 32.41points, or 1.42%, to 2,320.40.

Crude prices inched higher on Tuesday, the prices went to a standstill when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) came with a forecast of steady demand for 2010, but the rise in stocks gave encouragement to the crude prices and it managed to close higher. Benchmark crude for February delivery rose $1.02 to settle at $79.02 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for March delivery rose 53 cents to settle at $77.63 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Indian rupee pared its early gains and closed lower on Tuesday. The domestic currency made a good start on the back of dollar weakness against other regional currencies and positive start of the local stock markets, also the foreign fund inflow were supporting the sentiments but the lack luster performance of the stock markets led to the weakness in the rupee in the late trades. Finally the rupee closed at 45.80, 16 paise weaker compared to its Monday's close of 45.64.

The FII on Tuesday were the net buyers in both equity as well as debt segments. In equity segment the gross buying was of Rs 2619.90 crore against gross sell of Rs 2325.20 crore, while in the debt segment the gross purchase was of Rs 1295.90 crore with gross sales of Rs 840.60 crore.

The US markets bounced back after a long weekend with the support of healthcare and technology stocks, major indices were able to garner good gains and moved higher by more than 1%. The Asian markets have made a mixed start of the day and some of the indices are trading considerably lower. The domestic markets declined heavily in the last hours and declined by about 1%. PSU sector was the buzzing sector and is likely to continue its momentum today. IT major, Wipro came with its December quarter results in the morning and though, the numbers were not stellar,were better than expected and the company has given a modest q-o-q guidance of 4-5%.   

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

                                                          Nifty Top volumes

• DLF has decided to exit from its mutual fund venture by selling its entire stake to its overseas partner, Prudential Financial.
• Tata Power's net profit rose 40.39% to Rs 141.8 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2009.
• Cairn India is seeking to hire a rig to drill two wells to be used in a field of Ravva in the Bay of Bengal,starting November.
• GAIL is planning to take equity in a gas pipeline, which China is laying to wheel natural gas from Myanmar offshore fields.
• Pradeep Banerjee, currently vice-president, supply chain management-packaging, Unilever, will take over as executive director, supply chain, at HUL, on February 1.