Pre market: Cautious opening on cards

Q3 earnings to weigh on investor's sentiments

Markets are likely to mirror cues from global peers and open soft this morning. The result season, both in India and globally, would decided market direction from here on.

Among prominent results to watch out for are Axis Bank on 15 January and Bajaj Auto on 16 January 2013.

On Monday, US markets ended mixed with technology shares in the limelight. Dow advanced 19 points to 13,507 while Nasdaq and S&P ended in red.

In Asia, markets traded on a mixed note. Nikkei and Shanghai Compospite continued yesterday's good run, but the rest of the markets slipped in morning deals. Nikkei was up 1% at 10,919. At 700 hrs IST, the SGX Nifty was down 18 points at 6,049.

In individual stocks, Panacea Biotec is awaiting a nod from the World Health Organization to resume supplying vaccines for the world immunisation programme from its units at Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Private lender YES Bank has initiated talks with Royal Bank of Scotland to acquire the latter’s retail assets in India. Keep an eye on the stock today.

Also watch out for Hero MotoCorp as it will invest Rs 950 crore in Rajasthan to commission its fourth production unit, a global parts centre and an integrated state-of-the-art research & development facility in the state.

Apollo Tyres may be in focus as it has opened its global R&D centre in Enschede in the Netherlands.