The Indian markets may open flat as the global cues are not very encouraging. The Asian markets are traidng mixed while the SGX Nifty is down 12 points at 5,526.
On the Asian front, Japanese stocks rallied with several blue-chip shares boosted by strong earnings. The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average is up 1% at 10,550 while Jakarta Composite is down nearly 0.2%. Markets in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are shut for the Lunar New Year holidays.
In the US markets, the markets closed near the session's highs with investors favoring shares of retailers after encouraging chain-store sales raised confidence ahead of Friday's jobs report. The Dow Jones was up 0.17%, at 12,062 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.16% at 2,754.
The stocks to watch for the day are Ambuja Cements, Cipla, Jet Airways, CNI Research and ACC.