Nifty can fall to 5,800 if today's lows are broken. The second support is at 5,670

The market is showing signs of tiredness and unable to cross the previous high made in January. There are signs that we will get a short decline to 5,800 on the Nifty. If that level holds, the market may make an effort to move higher again. If no support comes, Nifty may fall to 5,660 and below.

Today the market opened sideways, weighed down by lacklustre quarterly results from Reliance Industries. Oil & gas, metal and power stocks were on the sellers' radar in early trade. The Sensex opened 63 points lower at 19,539 and the Nifty was at 5,860, down 25 points from its previous close. Gaining some strength in subsequent trade, the market touched the day's high at around 10am. The Sensex rose by 95 points to touch 19,697 and the Nifty added 22 points at 5,907 at the day's high.

The market erased most of its gains and was range-bound with the indices hovering on both sides of the neutral line till noon trade. Fluctuations continued in the post-noon trade with the market slipping to the day's low towards the end of the session, as passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki reported a marginal rise in fourth quarter earnings. At the day's low, the Sensex fell to 19,531 and the Nifty eased to 5,857. The benchmarks ended near those levels as lacklustre earnings hurt sentiment. The Sensex fell by 18 points to 19,584 and the Nifty closed the session 10 points lower at 5,875. The advance-decline ratio on the National Stock Exchange was 810:985.

While the broader indices also settled almost flat, the BSE Mid-cap added 0.09% and the BSE Small-cap index rose 0.24%.

Among the sectoral gauges, BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.92%), BSE IT (up 0.83%) and BSE TECk (up 0.55%) were the noteworthy gainers, whereas BSE Oil & Gas (down 1.75%), BSE Realty (down 1.18%) and BSE Bankex (down 0.05%) were the major losers.

Sterlite Industries (up 4.40%), State Bank of India (up 2.06%), Maruti Suzuki (up 1.53%), Infosys Technologies (up 1.13%) and Larsen & Toubro (up 1.03%) were the top gainers on the Sensex. The losers were led by Reliance Industries (down 2.97%), DLF (down 2.25%), Reliance Communications (down 1.41%), Jaiprakash Associates (down 0.98%) and Jindal Steel (down 0.76%).

Managing inflationary pressures, particularly in food grain prices, is the biggest challenge before the policy-makers, according to C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.

Saying that he did not subscribe to the idea that high growth demanded higher level of inflation, Mr Rangarajan said, "We must use all of our policy instruments-interventions in the grain market, fiscal and monetary policies-to bring down inflation further and re-anchor inflationary expectations to the 5% comfort zone."

Asian markets were mostly lower on Monday as concerns about muted corporate earnings in Japan made investors jittery. Japanese automakers declined following a decline in output last month, while the Chinese market slipped on speculations that higher oil prices would prompt policymakers to take further rate-tightening measures.

The Shanghai Composite declined 0.52%, the Jakarta Composite lost 0.33%, the Nikkei 225 fell by 0.11%, the Straits Times was down 0.22% and the Taiwan Weighted contracted by 0.21%. On the other hand, KLSE Composite added 0.09% and the Seoul Composite surged 0.83%. The Hang Seng market remained closed for a local holiday.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks worth Rs307.79 crore on Thursday. Domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities worth Rs269.62 crore.

Crompton Greaves (up 0.09%), part of the $ 4-billion Avantha Group, has announced the inauguration of its drives and automation plant at Mandideep, Bhopal. The plant will produce AC drives for the industrial segment and supply traction converters and control electronics to the Indian Railways. It will also offer package solutions involving transformers, low voltage switchgear, motors and AC drives.

Kalpataru Power Transmission (down 0.87%) has bagged three orders worth over Rs 1,300 crore, including from the Ukraine and Tanzania. In a regulatory filing, the company said it has received Rs825-crore turnkey contract from Ukraine's state entity NEC Ukrenergo to construct 750 kv, 353 km transmission lines. The company has received a Rs42-crore contract from Tanzania for design, supply and construction of 132 kv transmission line of 41 km to connect Zanzibar Interconnector. It has also bagged a Rs457-crore turnkey contract from the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.10%) and MSD (Merck) in India today said they have entered into a partnership to market diabetes drugs Sitagliptin and Sitaglipitin plus Metformin in the Indian market. Under the pact, which comes nearly two weeks after the two firms agreed to form a joint venture, Sun will have the rights to sell the two drugs in the Indian market under different brand names.