Pre-market: Cautious opening on cards

Global shares in the negative zone

The markets could drift lower in trade today tracking negative global cues. US stocks fell on Monday as political turmoil in Europe cast doubts on the euro zone's ability to push through measures to end its debt crisis and as Wal-Mart sank following a report it stymied a bribery probe.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index around slipped 0.8 per cent each.

Asian markets were also impacted by the negative sentiment with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipping 0.2 percent while Japan's Nikkei average opened down 0.8 percent.

Back home, the Nifty may seek support around 5,155-5,125, while it faces resistance around 5,245-5,280, technical analysts say. At 810 am Indian Standard Time, the SGX Nifty was trading at 5,232 levels – up 45 points.

Among individual stocks, TCS and UltraTech Cement will react to their respective March 2012 quarter results that were announced post market hours on Monday.

FMCG major Nestle India could face an additional tax burden of Rs 100 crore this year due to increased rate of taxation.

Welspun Maxsteel, wholly owned subsidiary of the $3-billion Welspun Group, has kept its proposed steel factory plan in Maharashtra on hold due to the shortage of raw material and energy.

Telecom stocks will also be in focus as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed a high reserve price for telecom spectrum to be auctioned, at nearly Rs 3,622 crore per MHz in the 1,800-MHz band for GSM services.