Negative Asian cues may pull the Sensex down

The Indian markets may open in the negative on account of the negative cues from the Asian markets and the SGX Nifty trading down 21 points at 5,298.

On the Asian front, China raised interest rates by 25 basis points late on Tuesday, its second increase in just over six weeks. The timing was a surprise, coming on the final day of the Lunar New Year holiday, but investors had been expecting further tightening from Beijing to rein in stubbornly high inflation. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.3% at 2,790.

Japan's Nikkei is up 0.3% after touching a 9-month high at 10,659. Japan has been Asia's best performing market so far this year as healthier corporate profits and worries about building inflationary pressures have encouraged investors to switch money from fast growing emerging markets i.e. last year's star performers to developed market equities.

Hang Seng, Jakarta Composite,KLSE Composite, Straits Times, Seoul Composite and Taiwan Weighted shed 0.4% - 0.9%.

The stocks to watch out for the day are Mastek, Power Grid Corporation of India, Monnet Ispat & Energy, Mangalore Refinery And Petrochemicals and Ansal Properties & Infrastructure.