)
Markets are likely to see a flat to negative start. At 0815 hrs, early indicator, SGX Nifty is down 14 points at 6,334. In today's trade, Nifty is likely to retest the 6300-6320 levels.
Asian markets fell on Thursday after a survey of Chinese manufacturers showed surprisingly soft results, while the Australian dollar weakened due to its role as a whipping boy when activity in the Asian giant disappoints.
The flash Markit/HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China fell to 49.6 in January, from December's 50.5, suggesting a mild slowdown at the end of 2013 has continued into the new year.
Shanghai shares slipped 0.4%, though investors were still relieved that the country's central bank was flooding money markets with cash to ease a credit squeeze.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan also lost 0.9%, while Australia's main index dropped 0.5%.
Japan's Nikkei pared its early gains to be up 0.2% on the day. The news from Japan has been better, with a Reuters survey of business sentiment improving for a third straight month in January to reach a high last seen in 2010 as optimists far outnumbered pessimists.
Overnight, the S&P 500 closed flat on Wednesday as a mixed bag of corporate earnings failed to give investors the confidence to push equities higher with the index near record levels.
For the second day in a row, the Dow posted outsized losses following weak results from one of its components while the Nasdaq climbed, with BlackBerry one of its biggest boosts.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.25%, at 16,373. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.06%, at 1,845. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.41%, at 4,243.
Stocks to Watch
L&T, eClerx, Biocon, KPIT Technologies, Raymond and Indiabulls Housing Finance will be reacting to tehir Q3 numbers which was declared after market hours.
Also, watch out for some moves in Indian Bank, Novartis India, L&T Finance Holding, Bharti Infratel and Cairn India ahead of their numbers.
