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Markets are likely to open flat with a negative bias tracking weakness in the global markets.
Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday while the U.S. dollar held firm after a slump on Wall Street and tensions over Ukraine instilled a mood of risk aversion across markets.
Geopolitical concerns overshadowed upbeat U.S. economic data which included a spike in service-sector activity to a nine-year peak and a surprisingly large increase in factory orders.
For now, the drag from Wall Street was too much for regional markets and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan’s Nikkei slipped 1 percent. SGX Nifty is quoting at 7,746 down by 27.50 points.
Furthermore, Japan's Topix was off 0.6 percent.
The Dow Jones had dropped 0.84 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.97 percent and the Nasdaq 0.71 percent. All 10 S&P 500 sectors ended lower, led by energy stocks, which shed 2.1 percent .SPNY as ample supply pressured oil prices.
Stocks to watch:
Three former senior employees of Infosys -former chief financial officers T V Mohandas Pai and V Balakrishnan and former senior vice-president D N Prahlad - have written to the company's board to "immediately" consider a buyback of shares. They believe the company must do so because there is a "dramatic valuation disconnect" between the shares of Infosys and its peers, and this needs correction.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is set to launch a $1.5-billion (Rs 9,000 crore) debt issue abroad within weeks of Tata Steel raising over $1 billion.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) has posted a net profit of Rs 1,137 crore for the first quarter of 2014-15, a rise of nine per cent from the corresponding quarter last year.
The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp today reported 2.58% increase in net profit at Rs 562.76 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 548.58 crore during the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Its net profit performance was below Bloomberg consensus analyst estimates of Rs 618 crore.
State Bank of Travancore (SBT) recorded a 73% fall in net profit in the first quarter of the current financial year at Rs 50.03 crore as compared with Rs 186 crore in same period last year. Net interest income stood at Rs 525 crore at the end of the quarter, compared with Rs 582 crore. Total non-interest income was at Rs 221 crore as against Rs 253 crore. Total income improved from Rs 2,617 crore to Rs 2,644 crore last year.
Food antioxidant and ingredient manufacturer Camlin Fine Sciences posted 10% increase in its net profit at Rs 5.47 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 compared with Rs 4.96 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Footwear firm Bata India reported 4.14 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 59.37 crore for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014.
