Pre-market: Higher opening seen amid robust global cues

Markets are likely to extend gains on Tuesday tracking firm cues from Asia and robust overnight gains in US stocks.

At 8:30AM, the SGX Nifty was up 23 points at 6,218.

Asian stocks firmed up on Tuesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street and the broader S&P 500 and tech laden Nasdaq hitting record highs. Nikkei topped the 15,000 level with Softbank Corp leading the gains.

The Nikkei was up 1.3%, Hang Seng was up 0.3%, Straits Times was up 0.1% while Shanghai Composite was trading with marginal losses down 0.1%.

US stocks ended higher on Monday with the S&P 500 hitting a record high in intra-day trades led by health insurance companies. Nasdaq touched 14-year highs and gains in the tech-laden index was led by eBay.

The Dow Jones ended up 0.6% at 16,207, the S&P 500 gained 0.6% to close at 1,848 after hitting a intra-day record high of 1,858.71 and the tech-laden Nasdaq rose 0.7% to close at 4,293.

Stocks in Europe ended higher on Monday with Spanish stocks in demand after Moody's upgraded Spain's sovereign rating to Baa2 with a positive outlook. Improving German business morale also boosted sentiment in the region.

The CAC-40 ended up 0.9% at 4,419, DAX gained 0.5% to close at 9,709 and the FTSE-100 ended up 0.4% at 6,866.



Stocks in focus


NTPC may see a rebound after the sharp sell off in the stock yesterday on concerns that the new norms by the electricity regulator CERC is seen negative for the PSU firm

Ranbaxy Labs will be in focus after Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd said that its Indian unit Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has suspended shipment of pharmaceutical ingredients produced at its Toansa and Dewas plants.

JP Associates may be in action on reports of stake sale of cement plants

Tata Power said its board is scheduled to meet on February 27 to consider various fund raising options including but not limited to equity issuances by way of a rights issue, preferential issue, qualified institutions placement or any combination thereof.

Kinetic Engg has sold its remaining stake in Mahindra 2-wheeler business to private equity company Samena Capital for a consideration of about Rs 182 crore.