On the daily charts for the Sensex, the stochastic indicator is still in the positive territory. One cannot be sure at this point that the Sensex would continue to slide tomorrow. That would depend on how the other markets assess the impact of the rouble fall. There is already company specific reaction in Japanese stocks. Those companies which export to Russia have seen their stock prices come down. Similar reaction is likely in India. The country has toned down its tea exports to Russia for quite some years. Yet, one would have toreassess particular liabilities right now.

On the technical score, there is some inherent weakness in HLL. This scrip was actually priming up to move up. But on a panic situation, it can well go down to Rs 1560. HPCL may be immune to further attack as it has already gone down recently. Bajaj Auto has been able to hold its own and this gives an indication that the Russian flu might have only selective impact. Hindalco is neutral in as much as it is back to the base line having given up the gain of the previous day. But take a look at ICICI, and you can see that operators would rather square off rather than hold long positions.

ITC too confirms this approach. Most of the other scrips in the Sensex list have fallen sharply; these include Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, Ranbaxy, SBI and Reliance Industries. Sensex could easily shed another 100 points. It would be best to stay out of the market until the storm blows over. One should consider squaring off one's position. The market could have beennumbed with the first shock and hence, could go down further. Long term investors should hold their positions.