Markets are likely to open in the green

U.S. stocks had been shut yesterday on account of New Years. Wall Street had ended the calendar year on a splendid note as investors welcomed signs a fiscal cliff deal is taking shape in Washington.

In Asia, China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index held steady at 50.6 in December. The Straits Times is trading up 0.6%.
At 700 hrs IST, the SGX Nifty was trading up 66 points at 6,019.

In individual stocks, look out for Petronet LNG as a public hearing on the establishment of a 5-million tonne per annual liquefied natural gas terminal proposed at Gangavaram in Visakhapatnam district by Petronet LNG Limited is being held tomorrow.

A section of the public institutional shareholders of SpiceJet Airlines has voted against issuing unsecured compulsory convertible debentures on a preferential basis and the allotment of warrants to promoter Kalanithi Maran, expected to infuse about Rs 184 crore into the airline, raising his stake by five per cent. This can bring the stock into focus.

Also keep a watch on auto stocks, as tepid sales continued to remain a concern for most manufacturers in the domestic automobile industry, with seven of them together posting a decline of around 15 per cent in sales to 93,540 units last month.

Gujarat Gas Company has decided to focus on domestic suppliers for procurement of LNG after its supply contract with BG gorup subsidiary, BG India Energy Solutions Private Limited expired last month.