Pre-market: Markets likely to open lower amid mixed Asian cues

Stock markets are likely to open flat with a negative bias amid mixed Asian cues

Stock markets are likely to open flat with a negative bias in early trades on Monday tracking mixed cues from Asia.

Stocks in Asia were trading mixed with Japan's Nikkei up over 1% after the yen weakened against the US dollar after better-than-expected US jobs report. Straits Times was trading flat while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and China's Shanghai Composite were trading lower.

At 8:20AM Indian Standard Time the SGX Nifty was down 44 points at 6,136.

US benchmark share indices ended over 1% higher on Friday after better-than-expected US jobs data signalled that the world's largest economy is on the growth track. The US Labour Department on Friday reported that 204,000 new jobs were added in October, beating analysts expectations of 125,000 jobs.

 
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 168 points, or 1.1%, to end at 15,761.78. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 23 points higher, or 1.3% higher, at 1,770.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index surged 62 points or 1.6% to end at 3,919.23.

Key European shares ended mixed on Friday after better-than-expected US economic data raised worries that the US Fed may start winding down its monetary stimulus measures sooner than expected. Further, global rating agency Standard & Poor's which lowered France's sovereign rating also weighed on investor sentiment. The CAC-40 lost 20 points to end at 4,260.44, the DAX fell 3 points to end at 9,078.28 while the FTSE-100 ended 11 points up at 6,708.42.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Tata Motors will be in action after the auto major reported 70.71% increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3,541.86 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.
The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,074.73 crore in the same period last fiscal, Tata Motors said in a statement.

RCF will be under pressure after the PSU net profit more than halved to Rs 40.04 crore despite higher sales during the second quarter ended September 30, 2013-14. The company had clocked net profit of Rs 82.87 crore in the July-September quarter of last fiscal, 2012-13.

Sun TV Network may firm up after posting an increase of 11.55% in net profit at Rs 169.16 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, as against Rs 151.65 crore for the same period of last fiscal year. The income from operations has seen a growth of 7.63%, at Rs 466.41 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, compared to Rs 433.34 crore for the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal year.

Electrical equipment maker Crompton Greaves may gain after it reported an increase of 20.69% in its standalone (rpt) standalone net profit at Rs 134.80 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. The company had posted a profit of Rs 111.69 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, Crompton Greaves said in a filing to BSE.

Dena Bank will also be under pressure after the PSU bank posted 55.19 per cent drop in the net profit at Rs 107.38 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, on sharp rise in provisions for stressed assets. The net profit for the second quarter of 2012-13 stood at Rs 239.64 crore. The net interest income for the quarter rose by just 4.7 per cent to Rs 625.17 crore.

Apollo Tyres may see some action after an US Court rejected US-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co's claims that the Indian tyre major had breached its obligation to close its $2.5 billion buyout.

Action will also be seen in companies that will release their second quarter earnings today which include SAIL, Pfizer, Britannia Ind, Glaxo Pharma, Godrej Consumer , Godrej Ind, Reliance Infra, Reliance Power, NHPC and Tata Chemicals, among others.