Market Ahead, February 17: All you need to know before the opening bell

The selloff on Dalal Street is likely to gather pace in Wednesday's trade after a tepid closing for the benchmark indices in the last session as global stocks pulled back from a record. At 7.25 am, Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 94 points down, indicating a gap-down start for Indian indices.

Meanwhile, in the overnight session, Wall Street ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to notch a record closing high as cyclical sectors gained on the prospect of more fiscal aid to lift the US economy from a coronavirus-driven slump.

The Nasdaq, however, dipped 0.34% as technology stocks moved lower while concerns over rising interest rates kept the benchmark S&P 500 little changed and it ended 0.06% lower.

In Asia, stocks traded on a muted note. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.64%, Japan's Nikkei index shed 0.73% while South Korea's Kospi index dipped 1.35%.

That apart, cryptocurrency bitcoin surged past $50,000 mark for the first time on Tuesday before falling back. It was last up 0.83% at $48,351.

Now, a look at the stock-specific developments that are likely to sway the market today:

Pasupati Spinning, Uniply Decor and 3 other firms will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Nestle India's profit after tax rose 0.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 483.3 crore from Rs 472.6 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Adani Ports said it has completed the acquisition of Dighi Port for Rs 705 crore and would invest over Rs 10,000 crore in developing it as an alternate gateway to JNPT.

Tata Consumer stock is likely to be in focus amid reports that Tata group is acquiring 68 per cent stake in online grocery platform BigBasket for around Rs 9,500 crore.

Vedji Ticku has resigned as the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Page Industries.

Heritage Novandie Foods, a 50:50 joint venture company between Heritage Foods and Novandie, France started commercial production.

Lastly, the Rs 820-crore initial public offering (IPO) of RailTel Corporation was subscribed 2.6 times on Day 1. Meanwhile, the Rs 100-crore IPO of Nureca, a wellness product distributor, was subscribed 15 times a day before its close.