Key equity indices managed a positive close on Tuesday extending their gains for the second successive day, led by sudden spike in the realty stocks during the last half an hour of trade. After witnessing flat start tracking weak global cues, the markets managed to recoup all of their losses within few minutes of trade. But the benchmark indices lacked any conviction after that and oscillated in a tight range. There were no major triggers in trade to persuade either the bulls or the bears to take charge of the street. Investors as well as traders took cautious approach in trade to avoid carrying heavy positions ahead of the Railway Budget, scheduled to be presented the next day. Realty, metal and healthcare stocks led the indices higher. On the other hand, concerns about likely hike in excise duty by the government resulted in investors pressing 'sell' button for the auto stocks. Leading auto makers like Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Hero Honda and Tata Motors were the biggest losers on the BSE's sensitive index. Reports of recall of one lakh 'A-Star' cars by Maruti Suzuki to replace a faulty fuel pump part, also weighed on the counter. Public sector undertaking stocks edged lower tracking tepid response to the follow-on public offer of the state-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). Though the issue was subscribed over two times by closing, the retail investors' participation remained lower indicating that most of the bids were from the institutional investors. New listing, Aqua Logistics finished the day with good gains of 11% compared to its issue price of Rs 220 per share. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 49.27 points or 0.30% to shut shop at 16,286.32 while the S&P CNX Nifty advanced 13.65 points or 0.28% to close at 4870.05.

The US markets suffered their biggest one-day drop in nearly three weeks on Tuesday on report of a sharp drop in consumer confidence that raised worries over one of the important part of the economy. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 46 in February from 56.5 last month, worst than expected. All the major indices that made a good start, soon started declining and closed with considerable losses. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 100.97 points, or 0.97%, at 10,282.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined by 13.41 points, or 1.21%, to 1,094.60 while the Nasdaq Composite Index closed lower by 28.59 points, or 1.28%, to 2,213.44.

Crude prices got a halt to their five days consecutive rally on Tuesday and declined heavily by almost 2 percent on the data showing decline in consumer confidence. On the same time dollar strengthened and supported the decline in the crude prices. US consumer confidence sagged to a 10-month low this month, according to a Conference Board report. Benchmark crude for April delivery settled down $1.45, or 1.81 percent, at $78.86, after trading in a range of $78.22 to $80.39 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, April Brent crude ended down $1.36, or 1.73 percent, at $77.25

The Indian rupee closed marginally lowers on Tuesday. The domestic currency made a flat start with a positive bias continuing from the previous day's bounce back, on the back of weakness in dollar but remained direction less due to the sluggish regional markets cue and when the local markets despite a good recovery were unable to provide any support the rupee turned soft, some upmove was witnessed during the mid day when exporters started buying weaker dollar. Finally the rupee closed at 46.24, 2 paise lower compared to its Friday's close of 46.22.

The FII on Tuesday were the net buyers in the equity segment with gross buying of Rs 1538.20 crore against gross sell of Rs 1498.60 crore, while in the debt segment they were the net sellers with no gross purchase reported while the gross sales stood at Rs 480.30 crore.

The US markets plunged on Tuesday on the back of worst than expected consumer confidence data; also there was report of continuous slow recovery in housing market, reminding investors of the brittleness in the economic recovery. The Asian markets have made a weak start taking cues from the US markets and most of the indices are trading lower by 1-2 percent. The domestic markets managed a flat close in previous session but the trade today is likely to be a bit volatile as it being the penultimate day of F&O expiry and the Railway Budget too is scheduled today that may bring some stock-specific action in the markets.

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

                                                             Nifty Top volumes

• Maruti Suzuki India is recalling about 100000 A-Star hatchbacks to fix a fuel leakage problem.
• The government has approved a proposal of Mothercare to invest Rs 25.87 crore for 30% stake in a joint venture with DLF Brands, the retail management arm of DLF.
• Tata Steel has received the first consignment of equipment for Kalinganagar steel project in Orissa from Germany.
• NTPC's Bijapur unit 4,000 MW Greenfield thermal power projects may go on stream by 2014.
• ITC is planning to launch noodles under the 'Sunfeast' brand name and has set up a facility in Maharashtra to manufacture noodles.