<b>Pre-mkt:</b> Nifty may rally to 5,900

The market is likely to open on a positive note as most of the Asian markets are trading higher. The trigger for the market is fresh $500 billion inflow by the European Central Bank to the banking system as a part of global effort to ease credit-market gridlock. The Nifty is more likely to pierce 5,900 levels while Sensex could be around 19,450 levels.

However, profit booking at the higher levels is not ruled out. The culprit would be the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) who are in sell mode in the derivative segment. The FIIs have been net sellers in the December contracts worth Rs 7,500 crore while making net buys in cash segment worth Rs 3,500 crore. The FIIs selling pressure is likely to continue for the remaining five days of the expiry of current month series.

Technically Nifty is still looking weak on the charts and hence it can now test 5,696, which is 61.80% retracement level of the recent rally from 5,394 to 6,185. If Nifty breaks this level then we may see further downside. One can look at the buying Put near 5,800 strikes, as Nifty may not trade below 5,700 level. For today, Nifty has resistance in the range of 5,890 to 5,900.