Pre-Market: Stocks to watch

Markets to remain choppy; rupee, crude oil eyed

Markets are likely to remain choppy on the back of escalating tensions in West Asia and Ukraine. Most global markets have been trading weak as the geopolitical situation pushed up crude oil prices to a nine – month high on Monday.

Asian shares struck a cautious tone on Tuesday as the double-whammy of a deepening conflict in Iraq and a gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia sapped investors' appetite for risk.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.15%. Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend with rise of a 0.5%, though it was still down on the week so far.

Oil prices remained near nine-month highs as militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have seized a large part of northern Iraq, forcing US President Barack Obama to consider options for military action to support Iraq's besieged government. US crude futures stood at $106.76 per barrel, having climbed as high as $107.68 on Friday.

Overnight, US stocks closed slightly higher on Monday, supported by a flurry of merger news, but turmoil in Iraq drove oil prices up and kept trading choppy. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.27 points, or 0.03%, to end at 16,781. The S&P 500 gained 1.62 points, or 0.08%, to 1,938. The Nasdaq Composite added 10.45 points, or 0.24%, to close at 4,321. Energy stocks were the day's winners, with the S&P energy index up 0.5%. The S&P financial sector index was the biggest decliner, down 0.4%.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Among individual stocks, Reliance Communications (RCom) could see some action today on reports that the company Anil Ambani-promoted company is tying up with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio for a pan-India intra-circle agreement, straddling the 800-MHz and 2,100-MHz bands.

Also keep a tab on IT stocks on the back of how the rupee pans out during trade today.

Edelweiss Group has acquired a 2.57% stake in United Spirits Ltd (USL) through the open market, as well as invoking part of the shares pledged with it. While the 2.57% stake has voting rights, Edelweiss also holds an additional 4.33% stake through shares pledged with it.

The lenders of debt-stricken REI Agro, who have exposure of Rs 4,000 crore to the company, are considering taking the agro processing firm to the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) cell. This could see the stock come back in the limelight today.

Hanung Toys is likely to be in focus after the board gave a unanimous consent for issue and allotment of equity shares to promoters/group on preferential basis.