Higher opening seen on firm global cues; RBI policy in focus

Auto shares will be in focus ahead of their January sales numbers

Markets are likely to open higher on Monday tracking sharp gains on Wall Street on Friday and firms gains in Japanese shares while the RBI monetary policy review tomorrow and the last batch of third quarter earnings will be in focus during the current week.

At 8:30am, the early indicator SGX Nifty was up 50 points at 7,601.

"The Indian markets are expected to open with a positive note tracking global cues. On Friday, the European markets bounced back on the back of Bank of Japan's announcement. Asian markets were also trading higher," Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said in a morning note.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks except China and Hong Kong were trading higher with Japanese shares gaining the most after the Bank of Japan's negative interest rate policy stance. The benchmark Nikkei was up 1.8% while Straits Times was up 0.3%. Shanghai Composite was down 0.5% while Hang Seng eased 0.3%.

US stocks rallied on Friday after the surprise announcement by the Bank of Japan and strong gains in technology shares led by Microsoft. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 2.4% at 16,460 while the broader S&P 500 gained 2.4% to 1,939 and tech-laden Nasdaq ended up 2.4% at 4,614.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

Auto companies will be in focus as companies will announce their January sales numbers from today.

L&T may firm up after third quarter consolidated net profit increased by 19 per cent  to Rs 1,035 crore against Rs 866 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, aided by Other Income and lower finance cost. Order inflow in Q3 increased by 11 per cent year-on-year to Rs 38,528 crore at group level during the quarter, led majorly by infrastructure segment.

JSW Steel may be under pressure after consolidated net loss of Rs 923 crore for the December quarter, hit by impairment charges of Rs 2,121 crore.

Marico may firm up after its standalone profit in third quarter of 2015-16 grew by 79.63 per cent, to Rs 236.87 crore as against Rs 131.86 crore posted in the same quarter of 2014-15.

Shriram Transport Finance may firm up after it posted a growth of 20% in net profit at Rs 375.07 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2015, as against Rs 312.45 crore during the same quarter of previous fiscal year.

Grasim may gain after it posted a net profit of Rs 650 crore against Rs 334 crore during the quarter under review.

Dr. Reddy’s Labs may gain after it received FDA approval for ZEMBRACE™SymTouch™ (sumatriptan succinate) Injection for the acute treatment of migraines in adults.