Pre-market: Sensex may see a soft opening

Markets is likely to open in a soft note, taking cues from global bourses.

US markets dropped on Tuesday after gaining for consecutive days as investors worries over lingering problems in West Asia. The Dow dropped 18 points to 12,019. Nasdaq and S&P 500 shed marginally as well.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note. Hang Seng dropped 71 points to 22,787. Nikkei shed 1.6% to 9,455 after gaining 4% on Tuesday. According to the Nikkei newspaper the total damage estimated by the government would reach 15-25 trillion yen.

Markets would be looking at the gas price pooling meet to be held later this week. An inter-ministerial group would meet to deliberate on subsidising costlier imported LNG by making consumers of cheaper domestic natural gas pay more.

In positive news, advance tax paid by corporates increased by over 22% to Rs 1.97 lakh crore in the current fiscal compared to the year-ago period, indicating buoyant economic activities. FM has also rolled-back tax on diagnostic services, hospitals, but only till GST comes into force.

On Tuesday, markets in India closed in the green after three consecutive days of losses buoyed by gains in auto and realty shares. The Sensex added 149 points to 17,988. Nifty was up 49 points at 5,414.