Pre-Market: Markets to be range bound

September derivative contracts expire today

Markets are likely to remain rangebound today ahead of the September derivative contracts expiry today.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as renewed turbulence in the euro zone over financial bailouts led investors to book profits from recent gains as a strong third quarter nears an end.

Asian shares were capped on Thursday as uncertainty over a bailout for Spain bailout dented sentiment, while global lenders' wrangling over Greek debt restructuring highlighted Europe's apparent difficulty to reach a unified approach to tackling its debt crisis.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly unchanged, after hitting its lowest point since September 14 on Wednesday. At 700 Indian Standard Times, the SGX Nifty was down 9 points at 5,652.

STOCKS TO WATCH

GNFC plans to open as many as 100 agri marts, a one stop solution to farmers for all their farm requirements, over the period of next three years.

Tulip Telecom has bagged a deal worth over Rs 74 crore from the Tamil Nadu government for providing end-to-end connectivity to 2,000 offices in the state.

Siemens has signed a Rs 147 crore contract with state-run Power Grid Corp for executing a project at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.

L&T Construction has bagged new orders valued at Rs 1,241 crore across various business segments this month.

Infosys has bagged the contract to do a makeover for Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Jindal Stainless has received shareholders' approval to raise up to Rs 1,552 crore by issuing securities to meet its need for capex and debt repayment among various others.

Tata Sons has increased stake in Indian Hotels Company by acquiring 46.30 lakh shares of the company for about Rs 29 crore through open market transactions.