Markets likely to open lower tracking global cues; Banks, IT stocks in focus

Indian markets are expected to see a cautious opening today mirroring weakness in the Asian peers. The early indicator SGX Nifty is trading 0.6% lower.

Despite a strong rally on Thursday, a slump in the US stocks overnight on concerns of a further fall in the global crude prices could weigh on the sentiment.

On Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex ended up 309 points at 25,804 and the Nifty50 gained 93 points to close at 7,844.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said from April 1, 2016, banks must review their lending rates frequently, and reflect changes in their cost of borrowing in a bid to force banks to effectively pass on policy rate cuts.
 
Also, in focus would be the IT stocks after the US Congress has doubled a special fee on the popular H-1B and L-1 visas raising it up to $4,500 to fund a 9/11 healthcare act and biometric tracking system thus hitting Indian IT companies.

Asian shares took their cue from Wall Street and slipped on Friday, but were still on track for gains in a week marked by a depreciating yuan in China and the first U.S. interest rate hike in nearly a decade.

Japan's Nikkei .N225 edged down about 0.1 percent, poised for a weekly gain of 0.5 percent, as investors awaited the conclusion of the Bank of Japan's two-day meeting expected later in the session.

Wall Street drooped on Thursday as crude oil futures continued to wallow at multi-year lows against a backdrop of oversupply as well as a stronger dollar following the U.S. Federal Reserve's widely anticipated tightening on Wednesday

STOCKS IN FOCUS

Banking shares will be in focus following the direction from RBI.

IT stocks- Infosys, TCS, Wipro, will be in limelight after the US Congress doubled the fee on H1B and L-1 visas.

Bank of Baroda: CBI today filed a charge sheet in connection with the case of alleged illegal remittances worth Rs 6,000 crore made to South East Asian countries from the branches of Bank of Baroda.

M&M: With fears of a temporary ban on sales in Delhi of large diesel vehicles being extended to other cities, Mahindra & Mahindra, India's biggest maker of sports utility vehicles (SUV), is considering reducing the size of its engines.

AstraZeneca: AstraZeneca is to buy 55 per cent of privately held biotech firm Acerta Pharma for $4 billion to give it access to a new kind of blood cancer drug, boosting its long-term growth at the cost of a near-term hit to earnings

Vedanta: Vedanta on Thursday said its arm Sesa Goa may suspend iron ore mining in Goa due to the ongoing dispute between the firm and truck operators.

HUL: Hindustan Unilever, has bought hair oil brands Indulekha and Vayodha from the Kerala-based Mosons Group thus entering hair oil segment after 12 years.

With Reuters input