Markets may open higher ahead of Fed meet; Maruti Suzuki in focus

Markets are likely to open higher ahead of the US Federal Reserve meet, tracking firm trends in their Asian peers and overnight gains on Wall Street.
 
At 8:30AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was up 43 points at 8,860.
 
The US Federal Reserve will meet for its two-day policy meet, the first in 2015, on Tuesday. Analysts expect it to maintain its earlier stance of remaining 'patient' on increasing the key rates.
 

Globally. equity markets have largely shrugged off the outcome of Greece election. The victor Syriza Party has promised to re-negotiate Greece debts with its international creditors and bring a halt to the austerity measures.

 
On the domestic front, traders will watch for the fiscal deficit numbers due on Friday along with corporate earnings in this week. F&O expiry on Thursday is likely to keep investors cautious in the week.
 
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 2,020 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
 
Asian shares moved higher on Tuesday and the euro clung to rare gains, relieved that European markets had weathered Greece's election outcome without much disruption. Nikkei has gained around 1.4% while the Chinese markets are trading lower. Shanghai Composite is trading lower by 0.5% and Hang Seng index has lost 0.4%.

 
Overnight, US markets ended marginally higher after bad weather in New York thinned trading volumes. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.03%, the S&P 500 gained 0.26% and the Nasdaq Composite added or 0.29%
 
Stocks to Watch
 
Maruti Suzuki will be in focus ahead of the release of its third quarter results.
 
Ranbaxy will be in focus after gaining approval from USFDA for the generic version of Nexium.
 
Idea will be in focus ahead of its third-quarter results due to be release later today.
 
BEL will be in focus after reporting strong third-quarter results while Tata Coffee may come under pressure on weak results.