Markets may open on a subdued note following weak global cues and cautiousness prevailing ahead of the IT bellwether Infosys earnings on Tuesday. The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange declined 17 points, at 5,647.
On Friday Nifty index scaled to the 200-Day Moving Average (5,740), but slipped back due to selling pressure in late trades. Technical analysts expect the index to correct to 5,500 where there is a major support as the Nifty has retreated back in the falling trend line on the technical charts. The rally in the past two weeks has been merely an upmove led by Foreign Institutional Investor fund flows of Rs 10,282 crore.
Markets will take cues from the Infosys results which will be announced on Tuesday. Emkay in the morning note said that Infosys will report revenue of $1,677 million or Rs 75,060 crore, up 4.7% q-o-q, and profit after tax of Rs 17,400 crore, down 4.5% q-o-q driven by lower operating margins. Operating margins may decline by 220 bps to 29.9% due to higher wage hikes. The company may raise FY12 EPS outlook marginally by 2-3% to Rs 128-131.
Asian markets were down in the morning session on back of dismal US economic outlook after disappointing jobs data reported on Fridat. Also China's consumer price index scaled to high if 14.4%, stoking expectations that the Chinese government will continue its tightening process. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.8% and Shanghai's China Composite was down 0.2%.
