Pre market: Weak opening on cards

Markets may see a subdued week ahead on the back of muted global cues, worsening macro-economic fundamentals and uncertainities over the upcoming Parliament session.

On Monday, the markets are likely to open flat with a positive bias on the back of positive Asian markets. The SGX Nifty was up 9 points at 5581.5 at 700 am Indian Standard Time.

Asian shares rose on Monday, boosted by a positive tone in U.S. equities last week, while the yen fell to a near seven-month low against the dollar on expectations a new government after next month's election in Japan may deliver more stimulus.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5%, recovering from a nine-week low marked on Friday.

Japan's Nikkei average, which bucked the broad Asian downtrend on Friday and surged 2.2% to a two-week closing high, opened up 1.3% as the BOJ begins a two-day policy meeting on Monday, with the bank not expected to take fresh policy steps.

In the US markets, the first round of talks aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff" caused a temporary rise in equities on Friday, signaling Wall Street's recent declines could be a buying opportunity. Although stocks ended moderately higher on Friday, it was not enough to offset losses for the week. The S&P 500 was down 1.5%, while both the Dow and the Nasdaq fell 1.8%.

Back home, according to technicals, the NSE index has not only ended below its short- and medium-term moving averages, but also below the lower-end of the Bollinger Band on the daily charts. Going ahead, the bears are likely to have the upper-hand as long as the index sustains below 5,625. On the downside, the index can tumble 5,450-odd levels. For today, the Nifty is likely to seek support around 5,540-5,520, while face resistance around 5,610-5,630.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Tata Motors may see an uptick as Jaguar Land Rover and Chery Automobile announced that they had laid the foundation stone for a new car factory in Changshu, China, near Shanghai.

Nalco may be in for a negative opening as it stopped production at its Panchpatmali North-Central block bauxite mines after its lease deed for the area expired on Saturday.

Indian Overseas Bank may see some moves as the Chennai-based bank is mulling to raise funds through a perpetual bond sale for which they will soon seek approval from its board.

GMR Energy may see some weakness as they approached IDBI Bank, the lead bank to GMR Rajahmundry Energy, to reschedule its Rs 2,600-crore loan. Also, the group has also asked the lenders to allow the company to delay the commissioning of the project to April, 2014.

Aviation stocks are likely to continue to see-saw as Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that Government may be open to tweaking FDI norms in the aviation sector to attract investment, for which there has to be a "willing buyer and a willing seller".