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Markets are likely to open lower tracking weakness in their Asian peers and sharp overnight losses on Wall Street. Some recovery may be expected later in the session on fresh buying in the stocks of PSU Banks and IT companies which are in focus today.
At 8:30AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was down 21 points at 8,387.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 5.39 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data
Japanese shares have declined in opening deals dragged by appreciation of yen against US Dollar and overnight sharp losses in the US markets. Nikkei has lost around 1%.
Hopes of another stimulus dose by Chinese authorities have brought some gains to Shanghai Composite index which is trading up by 0.3%. However, Hang Seng index has lost more than 1% as falling oil prices continued to feed into global growth concerns.
With global crude prices suffering around 5% decline on Wednesday, the losses among energy stocks was significant enough to drag US markets by more than 1%. Concerns over political uncertainty in Greece also weighed on sentiments. Dow Jones Industrial Average index lost around 1.5% while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices lost 1.6% and 1.7% each.
Stocks to Watch
Stocks of Public sector banks (PSBs) may witness fresh buying. PSBs will be able to raise up to Rs 1.6 lakh-crore from markets as the Union Cabinet on Wednesday allowed the dilution of government equity in these lenders up to 52 per cent.
OMCs, like IOC, BPCL and HPCL, will be in focus as benchmark US crude slumped 5% to $60.75 a barrel on Wednesday.
IT stocks will be in focus as the Indian rupee fell to its weakest against the dollar in 1-1/2 weeks on Wednesday, declining for a third consecutive session on the back of dollar demand from oil companies.
Insurance related stocks will be in focus as the Cabinet has approved the legislative proposal to raise the composite foreign equity cap in the insurance sector from 26% to 49%.
Tata Motors will be in focus as the company unveiled plans to double its dealer network by 2020 to achieve market leader position in the passenger vehicle segment.
Tata Power will be in focus as the company has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire 100% stake in Nagpur based Ideal Energy Projects.
Sugar stocks, like Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini Mills, Dhampur Sugar and Shree Renuka, will be in focus after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved putting in place a new ethanol blending policy under which the price of ethanol would be fixed according to the distance of sugar factory from the depots of oil marketing companies.
On ethanol blending, CCEA approved a proposal to fix the delivered price of Ethanol would be fixed in the range of Rs 48.50 per litre to Rs 49.50 per litre, depending upon the distance of sugar mill from the depot/installation of the OMCs. Under the ethanol blending programme, 5% ethanol is doped with petrol.
Spicejet will be in focus as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Wednesday granted an extension to SpiceJet till Monday to clear dues of around Rs 200 crore. SpiceJet, which made payments of around Rs 5 crore to AAI on Wednesday, sought time till Monday to clear the dues.
