Nifty may slip below 5500 in the opening trade due to weak global cues and crude rebounding to $116/bbl as fighting intensified in Libya. The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange fell 28 points, at 5502.
Brent crude scaled back to 29-month high as Libyan crisis stoked supply concerns. OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) Ministers canceled the meeting to increase crude production citing ample of supply. US Markets ended in the red on back rising oil prices. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index slipped 0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged marginally lower by 0.01%.
Most of the Asian markets were also trading in the red dragged down by losses in mining and metal shares. Hong Kong shares declined 0.4%, with life insurance and commodity related shares leading the losses.Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was off 1.1% as losses in US technology shares weighed and China's Shanghai Composite also shed 0.9%.