Pre-Market: Markets likely to be range bound

The markets are likely to remain range bound in trades today. On the upside, Nifty may attempt a rally to 5,400-odd levels. Today  the index is likely to seek support around 5,325-5,315, while face resistance around 5,355-5,365.

On the global front, Stocks held steady at four-year highs on Friday, closing out their best week since June as a sharply disappointing jobs report only fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve would act to stimulate the economy next week.

The S&P closed higher but strength in both the Dow and Nasdaq was limited by blue-chips Intel and Kraft, both of which warned on their profit outlooks.

Asian markets are trading flat with positive bias. At 700 am Indian Standard Time, the SGX Nifty was trading at 5,311 - up 27 points.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Aditya Birla group firm Peter England Fashions & Retail's board today approved the demerger of Pantaloon format business and fixed the share swap ratio at 1:5 -- meaning for every five shares of Pantaloon, the shareholders will get one Peter England share. The stocks may be in focus today.

Indian Bank may come out with a follow-on public offer (FPO) next fiscal if market conditions improve, a top official said.  This may bring the stock in limelight today.

Auto component maker Bosch is suspending production at its Jaipur and Bangalore plants on specific days this month with an aim to prevent inventory pile up due to slowdown in domestic commercial vehicle segment. The stock may be in focus today.

Infosys, India’s second largest IT services company, is in talks with Everis, a Spanish consulting company, for a possible acquisition. This may bring the stock in limelight today.

Reliance Communications lost more than 13 per cent of its mobile customers in July as it cut off inactive subscribers who have not used their phones for two months, although the firm said the move would have no impact on revenue. This may bring the stock in limelight today.

ONGC’s overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), has bought US energy company Hess Corp’s stake in a producing Azerbaijan field and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline for $1 billion.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has joined the bandwagon of public sector lenders to cut the interest rate on retail (home and car) loans. This may bring the stock in limelight today.