Pre-market: Caution seen ahead of F&O expiry

Markets are likely to open flat as investors will remain cautious ahead of May F&O expiry

Markets are likely to open flat with negative bias as investors are likely to adopt a wait-and-watch ahead of the expiry of May F&O series later today.

At 8:30AM the SGX Nifty was down 15 points at 7,317.

Asian markets were trading mixed with Hang Seng and Straits Times up 0.4-0.7% while Shanghai COmposite and Nikkei were trading flat. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.01%, Hang Seng gained 0.4%, Straits Times up 0.7% and Nikkei was down 0.1%.

US stocks ended lower with the broader S&P 500 ending its four-day winning streak before hitting a record high in intra-day trades. Select retailers were in focus post their quarterly earnings.

The Dow Jones ended down 42 points at 16,633, S&P 500 ended down 2 points at 1,909.78 before hitting a record high of 1,914.46 while the tech laden Nasdaq ended down 12 points at 4,225.


Stocks to watch

Infosys will be under pressure after B G Srinivas, President and Board member tendered his resignation from the company. This is the 10th exit of senior managment personnel from the company.

Trent will be in focus after the Competition Commission of India today approved England-based retail company Tesco's purchase of 50% stake in Trent Hypermarket owned by the Tata Group.

Hero MotoCorp, world’s largest two-wheeler maker, said its net profit for the quarter ended March stood at Rs 554 crore, a drop of a little over three per cent compared to Rs 574 crore in the year-ago period. The profit was, however, six per cent higher than the Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 522.8 crore.

Loss making PSUs such as HMT, ITI among others will be in focus after the government said will identify sick public sector units for disinvestment, while going ahead with sale of its residual stake in Government's residual in Hindustan Zinc and Balco.

Diversified major Godrej Industries posted a 22% rise in net profit at Rs 114.3 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31. The company had reported net profit of Rs 93.67 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Hindustan Petroleum on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 4,609 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, after it got lumpsum fuel subsidy, beating the Street estimate of Rs 3,170-3,460 crore. It was, however, lower than the Rs 7,679 crore net profit in the year-ago period.

State-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), the country’s largest producer of the product, has reported growth of only 1.35 per cent in standalone net profit, to Rs 453 crore, for the fourth quarter ended March. Total income rose to Rs 13,509 crore from Rs 12,284.7 crore in the year-ago period.

Tractor maker Escorts Ltd today posted 15.18% decline in its net profit at Rs 31.78 crore for the January-March quarter ended March 31, 2014. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 37.47 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

Real estate player Unitech reported a net loss of Rs 51.5 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, owing to a writedown of a little over Rs 100 crore investment in the telecom business. The company had a net profit of Rs 30 crore during the corresponding quarter last year.

Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) has posted an 8% increase in net profit for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2013-14 to Rs 90.49 crore, as against Rs 83.53 crore in corresponding period last year.