Pre-market: Weakness to persist, Asian markets trade low

The markets are likely to further extend Thursday's losses and open weak following negative global cues. Markets, across the globe, have taken a beating over the absence of concrete measures to tackle the sovereign debt. The same is expected to drag the Sensex further. The Singapore Nifty futures are down 32 points at 4,877.

Overnight, the US markets plunged  as stocks and commodities cratered throughout the trading day. The investors also remained jittery over the uncertainty of Europe's econimic health. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 3.5%. The S&P 500 lost 3.2% while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 82.5 points, or 3.3%

The Asian markets have been trading in the red in the morning session. The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai Composite indices have shed nearly 1-2% each.

In yesterday's trading session, the markets had plunged over 4% amid sell-off in global equities after the Federal Reserve steered away from announcing quantitative easing three. The Nifty had plunged 210 points, at 4,923 and the Sensex had declined 704 points, at 16,361.

The Nifty and the Sensex clocked its biggest point fall since July 2009.

For the day, Indian infrastructure companies are likely to be in the limelight as they have now come under the scanner of Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing into assets of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Some of hem include IVRCL Infrastructure, Hindustan Construction Company, NCC, India Cements and Gayatri Projects.

ITC could be in the buzz after the company hiked cigarette prices following a rise in value-added tax. Other stocks to watch out for include Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Tata Chemicals.