Pre-market: Gap up opening seen

Markets may open higher followed by firm global cues and better than expected results posted by HCL Technologies. The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange were up 44 points, at 5,809.

US Markets rebounded on earnings optimism after Johnson & Johnson earnings beat forecast, the company is listed on Dow Jones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4%.

In Asia the Nikkei Stock Average was up 1% following gains in tech shares. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.4% buoyed by property and resource shares. Shanghai Composite also gained 0.5%.

Back in India, markets may open on a strong note, but analysts expect range bound trade going forward.  Edelweiss in the morning note said, the 200-DMA (Daily Moving Average) and 20-DMA support has been well respected keeping the intermediate uptrend intact. Short-term momentum oscillators have rolled bearish but intraday charts are showing signs of turning up. Edelweiss added, "the area around 5720-5700 needs to be closely monitored as bulls will look to enter trade on signs of strength, or prefer enter on decline to 5675 with protective stops below 5645."

HCL Technologies, a medium sized software services provided reported upbeat results, the consolidated revenues for the third quarter was up 5.57% at Rs 4077.9 crore versus Rs 3862.5 crore in the last quarter. Net profit surged 16.2% to Rs 461.3 crore versus Rs 397 crore seen in the previous quarter.

Financials such as ING Vyasya Bank and Yes Bank will be in focus today as they are set to report fourth quarter earnings.