Key equity indices managed to snap their six-day losing streak on Thursday as strong cues from global equities lifted sentiments back home. Volatility was extremely high during the entire day as futures & options' (F&O) traders rolled over their positions from January series to next month contracts. The markets pared some of their previous session's losses in early trades. Situation was in the control of the bulls till afternoon trades, but the data released from the government showed that the food price inflation for the week ended January 16 rose to 17.40% from 16.81% the week before,it triggered sudden bout of selling in the markets. This sell-off dragged the benchmark indices to their day's lows in afternoon trades. They managed to recover from the low levels in the late afternoon session and then moved between positive and negative terrain. Strong set of numbers for the December quarter from the private sector behemoth Tata Steel provided some support to the indices in late trades, which helped them to log off the choppy session with modest gains. Shares from healthcare, metal and banking space also hogged limelight. On the flip side, capital goods, fast moving consumer goods and technology stocks saw some unwinding of positions from marketmen. Telecom majors, Bharti Airtel and RCom, suffered hefty losses. Rise in the food price inflation played a spoilsport in trade as it raised concerns about stricter measures from the central bank in its quarterly policy review to be released on Friday. Finally, the BSE Sensex added 17.05 points or 0.10% to end at 16,306.87 while the S&P CNX Nifty rose 14.15 points or 0.29% to settle at 4867.25. 

The US markets declined once again after one day of pause, the technology share were the main culprit dragging down the markets. A weaker outlook from Qualcomm Inc. along with drops in Motorola Inc. and Apple Inc.hurt the whole market. Though, during his State of the Union address on Wednesday, Obama avoided talking about the banking overhaul plan but investors were still seen worried about the details of the new rule. The Senate confirmed Bernanke for a second term as the market was closing. His first four-year term ends Sunday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 115.70 points, or 1.13%, to 10,120.46. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12.97 points, or 1.18%, to 1,084.53, while the Nasdaq closed lower by 42.41 points, or 1.91%, to 2,179.00.

Crude prices continued their decline on Thursday, initially the prices got a lift with US President Barack Obama's State of the Nation speech Wednesday evening, where he pushed job creation as a priority, but the downbeat economic data provided reminders that the economic recovery is likely to be slow. Also the dollar reached its 6-1/2 month peak against the euro hurting the crude sentiments further. Benchmark Crude oil for March delivery fell 3 cents to settle at $73.64 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, March Brent crude ended down 11 cents, or 0.15 percent, at $72.13 a barrel, trading from $71.51 to $73.11.

The Indian rupee closed flat with positive bias on Thursday, one day ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review. The domestic currency made a good start buoyed by positive sentiments in the regional and local stock markets and traded firm till noon but when the volatility gripped the equity markets the rupee too started paring gains. The strength in dollar against other major currencies overseas too was weighing down the rupee. Finally the rupee closed at 46.36, 1 paise higher compared to its Wednesday's close of 46.37.

The FII on Thursday were the net sellers in the equity segment with gross buying of Rs 2957.10 crore against gross sell of Rs 4876.90 crore, while in the debt segment they were the net buyers with a gross purchase of Rs 530.80 crore against gross sales of Rs 446.80 crore.

The US markets resumed its slide after one day of pause and the weak outlook from the technology stocks along with downbeat economic reports lead the markets lower again. The Asian markets seem to be under the impression of the US decline and most of the indices barring the Chinese market are trading in red, with cut of 1-2%. The Indian markets witnessed a great bit of volatility on the F&O expiry day and managed to close flat after six consecutive days of decline. The global cues are indicating a soft start for the markets today and once the RBI comes with its monetary policy review the jitters can be witnessed from the rate sensitive sectors.

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

                                                          Nifty Top volumes

• DLF has posted a net profit of Rs 224.43 crore for the latest quarter against Rs 178.06 crore for the corresponding previous quarter, up 26.04%.
• Tata Steel has posted a net profit growth of 155.61% to Rs 1,191.75 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 against Rs 466.24 crore in same quarter last year.
• HCL Technologies has signed a $50 million global engineering transformation services agreement with Meggitt.
• BHEL is going to sign a joint venture agreement with MPPGCL to set up a 2x800 MW supercritical thermal power plant at Khandwa.
• Maruti Suzuki India has started exporting its latest compact car 'Ritz' to the South East Asian countries.

Integrated sugar producer Simbhaoli Sugars has decided to set-up a port based greenfield sugar refinery at Kandla, Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs 180 crore. This refinery will have capacity to process and refine 1000 tonne of raw sugar p...