Pre-market: Soft opening seen, eye on Wipro

Markets may open on a subdued note tracking weak Asian peers. The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange were down 3 points, at 5878.

Markets may continue to tread water on back of F&O expiry this week and a slew of quarterly earnings by IT major Wipro and cement firms -  ACC, Ambuja Cements and UltraTech expected later today. Developments on the graft front will be closely watched after police arrested senior congress leader Suresh Kalmadi, chief organizer of the Delhi Commonwealth Games and also charged alliance partner DMK (Dravida Munetra Kazhagam) chief's daughter K. Kanimozhi in 2G scam case.

Analysts recommend investors to buy into the Nifty index on dips. Edelweiss in the morning note said, “on the technical charts Nifty is trading in an upward rising trend channel and is well supported by the daily 21 EMA (Exponential Moving Average) and 200 SMA (Simple Moving Average) at 5771 and 5738 respectively. Hence making it a buy on declines market. “ Edelweiss recommends initiating trading longs on intraday dips to 5840 with a reversal placed below 5800 for a target of 5945 and 6000.

US Markets ended in the red for the first time in last four sessions led by low trading volumes as investors turned to the sidelines on simmering concerns of rising raw material prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2% each. Shares of Kimberly-Clark, maker of toilet paper and diapers fell 2.7% after it cut its full year profit outlook on back of higher input costs.

Markets across Asia were also down in the morning session led by losses in game related shares after Tokyo's Nitendo said profits declined for the second consecutive year. Monetary tightening fears in Beijing also weighed. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 1% as rising Yen weighed on export related stocks. China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.4% after China Securities Journal said consumer price index may rise 5.5% in April against last year which may put pressure on Beijing to hike rates. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also fell with resource shares leading the losses after commodity prices eased.