Pre-Market: Markets likely to open higher

Positive global cues to drive markets higher in the opening trades

Markets are expected to open on a positive note tracking similar trend in Asian shares.

Global risk appetite was firm as Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta's focus on growth and away from austerity in his inaugural speech lifted hopes for further stimulus from the European Central Bank.

At 7:15AM IST, SGX Nifty traded up 28 points at 5947.00.

Asian shares traded higher on back of overnight rebound in US stocks on positive cues from euro-zone.

Among the key Asian indices, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1 % to 22,044, Singapore’s Straits Times was up 0.5% at 3,308 while Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.7% to 13, 779 in the opening deals.

Overnight, US stocks rallied as Italy formed a government, relieving a two-month political stalemate and boosting investors' appetite for risky assets, while better-than-expected housing data boosted market optimism.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 105.13 points or 0.71 per cent, to 14,817.68, the S&P 500 gained 12.88 points or 0.81 per cent, to 1,595.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 35.12 points or 1.07 per cent, to 3,314.39. Apple led a 1.7-per cent advance in technology stocks, the best performing sector. Apple was up 3.8 per cent at $433.

Domestically, in the earnings calendar, we have Bharti Infratel, Dabur India, Everest Industries, Petronet LNG, TajGVK Hotels and TVS Motor which are slated to announce their fourth quarter performances today.

Following stocks are expected to move on the exchanges today:

Federal Bank recorded a 6.59 per cent fall in net profit for the quarter ended March 31 at Rs 221.94 crore, down from Rs 237.60 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has reported a 89 per cent drop in net profit during the quarter ended March 31 at Rs 58.60, compared with Rs 528.88 crore in the year-ago period. The drop was mainly due to higher provisioning against bad loans