As suspected, the Sensex was supported at around 16,000 and went up. A new short-term high is near if the world market remains bullish

The market witnessed volatile trade on the rollover of positions by traders in the derivatives segment from the near month June contracts to July contracts, ahead of the expiry of the near-month June derivatives contracts on Thursday. The Sensex closed at 17,756, up 6 points (0.04%) and the Nifty ended at 5,323, up 6 points (0.1%). The indices started the day with a sharp plunge, taking cues from Asian markets. They recovered from there in the mid-morning session, touching their intraday highs in the afternoon session. However, the market pared some gains in the remaining part of the trading session and ended flat.

Asian markets were mostly down on Wednesday on concerns over the unexpected decline in US home sales. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan fell by 0.19% to 1.8%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng recouped initial losses to rise 0.18% at the end of the session.

US stocks were down more than 1% in yet another late-day sell-off on Tuesday as poor housing figures and the puncture of a key technical level weighed on the sentiments of investors. The S&P 500 was down through its 200-day moving average, which had been a basis of support in the last few days. The Dow dropped 149 points (1.4%), to 10,293. The S&P 500 was down 17.8 points (1.6%), to 1,095.3. The Nasdaq lost 27.3 points (1.2%) to 2,261.8.

US economic leaders said that any measure to control the fiscal deficit in the short-term could affect long-term growth. There have already been signs of differing approaches among G-20 members about how to better insulate the global economy against a repeat of the devastating 2007-2008 crisis that caused a severe recession.

Back home, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it could increase interest rates soon as inflation is at an uncomfortable level.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of equities worth Rs975 crore on Tuesday. Domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks aggregating Rs197 crore.

Shree Renuka Sugars (down 1%) has successfully concluded a revised agreement to acquire controlling stake in Equipav SA Acucar e Alcool. As per the new terms, the company will invest 450 million Brazilian real in Equipav leading to a majority, controlling stake of 50.34%. Equipav consists of two very large and modern sugar/ethanol mills with integrated co-generation facilities in Sao Paulo in Southeast Brazil having a combined cane-crushing capacity of 10.5 million tonnes of cane per annum (44,400 tcd). In addition, Equipav has a co-generation capacity of 203MW.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) (down 3.1%) has been disqualified from the bulk tendering process for supercritical boilers and turbine generators for NTPC.

Khaitan Electricals (down 1%) said that the Share Transfer Books will remain closed from 7th to 16th September 2010 (both days inclusive) for the Annual General Meeting for the year 2009-10. The AGM is scheduled to be held on 16th September.

Tricom India (up 6.1%) is in the final stages of acquiring Mastiff Tech Pvt Ltd and Mastiff Internet Media Solutions Pvt Ltd. These companies are leading providers of niche Internet technology solutions. The formalities for these acquisitions are expected to be completed within the next few weeks. The purpose behind these acquisitions is to strengthen Tricom's BPC operations by using Mastiff's technology team and to support its own software development clients.