Pre-Market: Markets may have a muted start

The markets are likely to open flat, with a positive bias, due to the mixed trend across other Asian bourses.

The Sensex had risen 2.9% and Nifty had gained 3% in the bygone week. The immediate trend looks positive, especially given the fact that Nifty is trading above the strong resistance band of 8,530-8,550. One would, however, have to see if the Nifty manages to reclaim its crucial psychological level of 8,650 in trade today.

The market movement in the near term will also depend on further reform initiatives to be taken by the government in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, which will start from July 21. The ongoing result season will also have an important bearing on the market trend during the day and the week ahead, given that index heavyweights such as Infosys, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Auto, Wipro, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries are to announce their earnings during the week.

At 8.20am, the Singapore SGX Nifty was up 10 points at 8,642.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Japan's Nikkei  was trading 0.25% higher at 20,650 and Hang Seng index was trading 0.2% higher at 25,464. The Taiwan, Kospi and SET Composite had however, edged lower by about 0.5% in early trades.

On Friday, the Nasdaq Composite had pushed further into record territory, gaining 46 points, or 0.5%, at 5,210 on strong results from Google. The Dow Jones, however, was down 33 points, or 0.1% at 18,086.

STOCKS TO WATCH

ACC is likely to be under pressure after reporting a 45% drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 133.5 crore for the second quarter ended June 30, on account of challenging market conditions and subdued demand.

Omkar Speciality Chemicals is likely to see action after reporting a 64.41% jump in net profit at Rs 8.17 crore in the first quarter ended June 30 compared with Rs 4.97 crore in the same period of last fiscal.

Federal Bank may be subdued after reporting a 35.8% decline in net profit at Rs.141.39 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, against Rs.220.23 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Karnataka Bank reported a 10% decline in net profit at Rs 109.34 crore for the April-June quarter of the current fiscal.

Torrent Pharmaceuticals may be on the investor's radar after reportedly completing the acquisition of Encore Group company Zyg Pharma Pvt Ltd.

According to reports, ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned explorer ONGC, has lost out on its bid for two oil blocks in Mexico's first licensing round in 88 years.

HDFC plans to raise Rs 90,000 crore from various instruments including non-convertible debentures and warrants to fund business expansion plans, media reports suggest.