Pre-market: Nifty likely to retest 6,150

Flat to negative opening likely on back of muted global cues

Markets are likely to open on a flat to negative note on account of muted global cues. At 0830 hrs, the SGX Nifty was down eight points at 6,185.

Technical analysts are of the view that Nifty is likely to retest the levels of 6,150 in intra-day trades, in case the weakness persists in the first hour of trade.

Meanwhile, Asian shares wavered on Thursday after a lackluster performance on Wall Street overnight and ahead of a key U.S. jobs report due out the following day, while the dollar stood near a seven-week high against a basket of currencies.

Market reaction was muted to a slowdown in China's annual consumer inflation in December, which decelerated to 2.5% from the previous month's 3%, more than what the market had expected.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.2% after snapping a five-day losing streak on Wednesday.

Despite the yen's weakness, Japan's Nikkei benchmark shed 1.4%, giving up some of its 1.9% bounce in the previous session after losing nearly 3% in the first two trading days of 2014.

Overnight, The S&P 500 finished nearly flat on Wednesday as equity indexes had a muted reaction to the minutes from the US Federal Reserve's most recent meeting, while Micron's strong results helped buoy the Nasdaq. Minutes of the Fed's December 17-18 meeting, after which the US central bank announced its decision to begin trimming its monthly bond purchases, showed Fed officials were careful to tread lightly as they embarked on the tapering process.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.41%, to end at 16,463. The S&P 500 dipped just 0.02%, to finish at 1,837. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.30%, to close at 4,166.