Stock markets are in the habit of changing course suddenly. The sharp fall since May 11 and the remarkable bounce back thereafter took most investors by surprise. And last week when the Sensex came tantalisingly close to kissing 13K, and investors were gearing up for another runaway rally, the benchmark index shied away only to deceive investors.

A week of lackluster performance, and the big question is whether stocks would rally further or lose momentum once again. Fundamentally, stocks appears to be on a firm footing with corporate performance bettering analyst estimates even in this quarter.

Based on trailing 12-month earnings, Sensex is trading at a price-earnings multiple 21.96 times. Building in a 15 per cent growth in earnings in fiscal 2008, the multiple stands at 17 times, which is not cheap.

But markets do not always toe the line defined by fundamentals and valuations. And that is when it becomes important to look at signals coming from the charts. As we step into Samvat 2063, here is what leading technical analysts have to say about the year ahead.