Pre-Market: 5 stocks to watch

Markets are likely to open flat tracking mixed global cues.

Investors unloaded dollars for safe-haven assets ahead of the upcoming meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee and in response to the advance of Sunni militants in Iraq.

Investors are concerned that central bankers at the Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting could shift more toward a monetary policy stance that would weaken the dollar, said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union.

That would include the Fed announcing that it planned to hold its key interest rate near zero well into next year, beyond investors' expectations.

Japan's Nikkei share average edged up on Wednesday morning, benefitting from gains on Wall Street and a weaker yen which drove exporters higher.  The Nikkei rose 0.3% to 15,023.83 in midmorning trade after advancing a similar amount on Tuesday.

It is nearing a three-month high of 15,206 hit last week.  Exporters were stronger after the dollar reached a one-week high of 102.25, with Panasonic Corp soaring 2.9%, Nissan Motor Co adding 0.5 percent and Tokyo Electron Ltd gaining 1.2%.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as data pointing to higher inflation lifted financial shares while high-growth tech names attracted renewed attention.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 27.48 points or 0.16%, to end at 16,808.49. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 4.21 points or 0.22%, to 1,941.99. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 16.13 points or 0.37%, to 4,337.23.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) proposes to raise the ceiling for FII investments in the bank to 40% from 37% to help it comply with RBI directive to bring down its current promoter stake by one-fourth in little over next two and half years.

Budget carrier SpiceJet extended its special monsoon fare offer with a starting ticket price of Rs 1,999 (all inclusive) pan-India, a day after the newly-launched AirAsia India announced Kochi as its third destination in the network at an all inclusive fare of Rs 500. 

The 40th annual general meeting of Reliance Industries will be held on Wednesday. The Mukesh Ambani-led company aims to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore debts this current fiscal to part-fund its $26-billion investment plan. Ambani had earlier said that the company is implementing several projects both in the manufacturing domain and the service sector to continue the tradition of creating significant shareholder value. RIL's expansion plans include building more petrochemical plants.

 
In advance of a little over Rs 1,350 crore to UB Holdings, the holding company of Vijay Mallya’s UB Group, from United Spirits, which presumably went to Kingfisher Airlines, has come to haunt United Spirits, India’s largest spirits company in which Diageo has strategic management control.
 
Ratnakar Bank plans to launch an initial public offering of shares worth up to $250 million in the first quarter of 2015 it will be the first Indian bank listing in four years. The offer will include an issue of new shares as well as some of the shares owned by the bank's private equity investors, said three sources. All the sources declined to be named as the details of the IPO are not public yet.