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Markets are likely to open flat with positive bias but profit taking is likely to cap further gains after the rally yesterday which pushed the benchmark indices to 3-week closing highs.
At 8:25AM, the SGX Nifty was down 3 points at 6,134.
Asian stocks were trading mixed with profit taking after recent gains. The Nikkei was down 0.7% after rising nearly 3% on Tuesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2% ahead of its central bank's policy on interest rates and the Straits Times was up 0.5%.
US Stocks ended mixed on Tuesday with Dow Jones ending with marginal losses while the broader S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended with marginal gains. Profit taking in Coco-cola on the back of slower growth in China and India pushed the Dow lower. S&P 500 ended with marginal gains led by Forest Labs and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended higher with Tesla Motors leading the gains.
The Dow Jones ended down 24 points at 16,130, the Nasdaq ended up 29 points at 4,273 while the S&P 500 ended up 2 points at 1,841.
European shares ended mixed on Tuesday with shares in UK rising the most.
The FTSE-100 gained 60 points or 0.9% to end at 6,796, the DAX rose 3 points at 9,660 and the CAC-40 ended down 4 points at 4,331.
Stocks in focus
Ashok Leyland may see some action after the company is considering sale of its Chennai property to trim its debt.
Hero MotoCorp will be in action after the two-wheeler major has cut prices by 2-5% upto Rs 4,500 following the excise duty cuts announced in the interim budget
Jindal Steel, Hindalco and Tata Power may see some pressure after de-allocation of coal blocks.
HMT may see some action after the government sanctioned Rs 1,083 crore towards revival and restructuring plans.
Thomas Cook and Esab India will also be in action ahead of its third quarter earnings.
Gujarat Pipavav may extend gains on robust third quarter earnings.
