Markets are expected to open marginally lower following subdued global cues and investor sentiment may remain cautious due to debt concerns in Europe and US. The Nifty future on the Singapore Exchange was down 18 points, at 5,573.
Markets in Hong Kong advanced 0.6% following gains in resource shares, while China's Shanghai Composite index traded flat. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 0.4%.
Back in India markets will take cues from the developments in Europe and US, forthcoming earnings and the Reserve Bank of India policy. Nirmal Bang in the weekly note said that there is a general feeling on the street that although interest rates have peaked out, inflation is yet to cool down.
On the technical charts Nifty has strong support at 5,400 levels and after remaining sluggish for a few trading session, bias continues to remain positive and there may be a break out above 5,700 level, said PINC Research.
Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth a net Rs 73.03 crore and Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 39.14 crore as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.