Markets may open higher; HUL, Sesa Sterlite, bank stocks in focus

Markets are likely to open marginally higher tracking the gains in their Asian peers and overall firm global cues. On the domestic front, corporate earnings for the third quarter will provide the directional cues for traders.
 
At 8:10AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was up 12 points at 8,598.
 
Further, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 433.72 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
 

Asian markets are trading higher. Nikkei has extended gains from yesterday and is trading higher by around 1.5%. Chinese stocks have rebounded from yesterday's huge slump ahead of the release of data on Chinese GDP growth for the fourth quarter. Data on Tuesday is expected to show China's economy grew 7.2% in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed. Shanghai Composite index has gained over 1% while Hang Seng index has gained around 0.6%.

 
US markets were closed yesterday on account of Martin Luther's day. Overnight, European shares had fared better on Monday amid intense speculation the European Central Bank will this week extend asset purchases to euro zone sovereign bonds, giving it greater scope to expand its balance sheet. FTSE 100 index closed 0.5% higher while French CAC 40 and German Dax indices closed higher by 0.3% and 0.7% each.
 
Stocks to watch
 
Banks stocks will be in focus after the Central Bank revised guidelines on base rates. RBI has asked lenders to "ensure price differentiation that is consistent with its credit pricing policy". This means in case a bank changes the spread while keeping the base rate unchanged, both new and old customers will get the benefit of lower interest rates.

 
HUL may rebound in today's session as many brokerages have remained bullish on the stock despite the FMCG major's sub-par Q3 results.
 
Sesa Sterlite may come under pressure as according to media reports foreign brokerage Moody's has downgraded the parent firm Vedanta.
 
 
Mindtree may witness fresh buying on strong results.   Mindtree's profit for the quarter ended December was Rs 140.8 crore, growth of 58.6 per cent over the same period the previous year. Revenue went up 15.3 per cent to Rs 912 crore, year on year.
 
Adani Power may be under pressure as Delhi High Court (HC) on Monday dismissed Adani Power's plea, seeking to restrain Lanco Infratech from selling its shares in its 1,200 Mw thermal power plant in Udupi district of Karnataka.