Pre-market: State-owned power majors to be in focus

State-owned power related firms will be in focus as the government plans to divest partial stake

Markets are likely to open higher, amid firm global cues, helped by a rebound in financials and select steel stocks. Further, intra-day volatility is seen with expiry of August derivative contracts tommorrow.

At 8:35AM, the SGX Nifty, early indicator of the market trend, was up by 28 points at 7,938.

US stocks firmed up on Tuesday as encouraging data showed that the economic growth is picking up pace. Gains were led by energy stocks and the broader S&P 500 ended above 2,000 for the first time to close at 2,000.02. It may be recalled that the S&P 500 had hit 2,000 in intra-day trade on Monday. The global benchmark Dow Jones gained 0.2% at 17,106.70 while the tech-laden Nasdaq ended up 0.3% at 4,570.64.

European shares ended higher on Tuesday, tracking firm US markets, on hopes of further monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank. The CAC-40 ended up 1.2%, DAX gained 0.8% and FTSE-100 ended up 0.7%.

Asian shares were steady in early trades while the Nikkei seems to be consolidating after recent gains. The Nikkei was trading flat with positive bias. China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.1% while Hang Seng was also up 0.1% and Straits Times gained 0.3%.

STOCKS TO WATCH

ONGC will continue to be in focus and may be under pressure following the government's t has decided to disinvest 5% stake in the company via offer for sale (OFS) mechanism. The procedure of disinvestment is expected to be completed by the end of the month of September, a senior official of Finance Ministry said. The Government currently holds 69% stake in the company.

State-owned power majors will be in focus after the Power and Finance ministries are scheduled to meet later today to discuss divestment of partial stakes in NHPC, REC and PFC.

HDIL, IOC, IRB Infra and Ranbaxy Labs will be in focus as they will be included in the CNX Mid-cap Index from September 26.

UCO Bank will be under pressure after the government ordered limited forensic audit into some non-performing accounts of Kolkata-based UCO Bank to find out any irregularities, if any, in sanction of loans.