While the Senesx gives the impression of an overwhelming bearish mood, the broad market indicators give a slightly different picture. The number of advances on BSE went down very little, from 685 to 683! The advance volume has actually gone up very noticeably from Rs 415 crore to Rs 1398 crore.The numbers in decline have gone down from 941 to 827 and volumes have shrunk from Rs 1752 crore to Rs 600 crore. But the downtrend was felt more on NSE, where the number of advances went down from 421 to 296 with advance volume moving up from Rs 732 crore to Rs 1035 crore. The number of declines went up from 621 to 765, with decline volumes shrinking from Rs 1664 crore to Rs 901 crore. Thus, apart of the Sensex portfolio, there is an undercurrent of advance. This will need more detailed scrutiny.

The level of 4340 to which Sensex could slip is some 150 points or three per cent down from Monday's close. The S&P Nifty, which is more broad-based gives a better picture. The Nifty can take support at 1273. Unlike the Sensex, this will be testing of the first trend support for Nifty. And that is only 17 points or 1.5 per cent down from Monday's closing. At the moment, it looks like that this support has good possibility to hold. But should it fail, one can expect support at 1245 and then a strong one at 1200.

The need has arisen to analyse the pattern of FII transactions over the last two days, to see if the global trend has affected Indian markets as well. If that is not the case and if the current bearish mood is only due to bears becoming bolder, short sellers would do well to keep looking over their shoulder. It would be unpleasant to get caught in a burst of buying. Well be cautious about it .