The market was unable to make up its mind on the opening day of the week on BSE. The sensex opened at 4326.81, three points higher than the previous week's closing of 4323.82. The only good thing is that the market did not open at a lower level than its previous close. But this is poor consolation.In the last fortnight, we often witnessed the sensex opening lower than the previous close. Thereafter, it moved up. The opening only indicates that traders are touching their base line every day before they can get the feel of the market. This is literally sitting on the fence.

Not bad in itself, if you consider that the market is not opening on a lower note. On Monday, the market moved up. It went up to touch 4391.01. Now comes the interesting part. Last Friday, the high was 4347.59. But readers would recall that profit booking in the end of the week depressed the highest point touched by sensex on that day. Let us go back a little further. What you see is the high on July 3. On that day, the high was 4393, just 2 points above the high touched on Monday. Earlier on June 2, the high was 4395. So what you have is a picture where the sensex seems to be holding its breath. It has no strength to post new highs. On the low side it slipped to 4289.49. On Friday the low was 4300, just 11 points above. So what we have is a pattern of behaviour that marked the last two days of the last week.

Now the technical indicators indicate a sell again. This is because the sensex has failed to advance further. What is more interesting is that while the sensex went as high as 4391, it closed at 4291.45, a clear 100 points down. This is certainly a signal that the market is weak.

So where can it slide to. If operators do not manage to pull the sensex up, we can see the sensex sliding. In such a case, we will see support emerging at 4236. Further below, we have a support arising at 4150. With support quite close at hand at 4236, which is just 60 points down from Monday's closing, bears may not make bold to sell short. What, however, can happen is that trading could get influenced by the closing on NSE on Tuesday.

If NSE operators decide to book profit on what has been somewhat gainful week, the market could slip from the present bottom, which is holding so far. But even if it falls through this, we expect the technical correction to be a minor one.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.