Markets to remain volatile ahead of F&O expiry

Markets are likely to open flat and volatility will be seen ahead of Feb F&O expiry tomorrow

Markets are likely to open flat with negative bias tracking weakness in their Asian peers and overnight losses on Wall Street. Further, volatility cannot be ruled out ahead of the expiry of February derivative contracts on Thursday.

At 8:35am, the SGX Nifty was down 4 points at 7,105.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the equities to the tune of Rs 290 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets were trading lower tracking a slide in global crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia said that there would be no reduction in production by major oil producers. Nikkei was down 0.7% while Shanghai Composite eased 0.1% and Hang Seng fell 1.1% and Straits Times was down 0.9%.

US stocks ended lower on Tuesday weighed down by energy shares after crude oil prices fell after Saudi Arabia said that there would be no production cuts by major oil producers. The Dow Jones industrial average eased 1.1% at 16,432, S&P 500 dropped 1.3% at 1,921 and the tech-laden Nasdaq closed 1.5% lower at 4,504.


STOCKS IN FOCUS

Kotak Mahindra Bank will be in focus on signing agreement with Airtel M Commerce Services Limited Company (AMSL) and Bharti Airtel Limited to acquire 19.9% stake in AMSL for Rs. 98.38 crore.

NCC may gain after its arm NCC Infrastructure Holdings along with Soma Enterprise Limited has executed definitive agreements to sell their respective shareholdings in Bangalore Elevated Tollway Limited to India Infrastructure Fund II (managed by IDFC Alternatives Limited)

NTPC may gain after the offer-for sale by the government was fully subscribed with most of the bids at Rs 122.20 compared to its base price of Rs 122. The 20% retail portion of the NTPC issue will be auctioned today.