Pre-market: Subdued opening on cards

Markets may open marginally lower tracking subdued Asian markets and may remain under pressure on global growth concerns. The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange declined 17 points, at 5,052.

Markets in Asia were trading lower as exporter shares were hurt due to stronger Yen. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.1%, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.5% and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.4%.

Overnight US markets eked out marginal gains on anticipation of upbeat earnings from retailers; however concerns over concrete solution to European debt woes capped gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.04%, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 0.1% and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%.

Brokerages such as Morgan Stanley cut global growth and India GDP forecast. The brokerage said, "India may not be able to respond given the starting point of a high fiscal deficit. The government may focus more on boosting private sector confidence through policy reform.”
Going forward Indian markets may continue to see more pain and analysts expect another correction.

Ajay Parmar, Head of Institutional Research from Emkay Global Financial Services said that around 15,300 levels would be an ideal bottom for the Sensex as margin contraction and a dip in volume would be seen in the coming quarters. Eleven consecutive rate hikes since March 2010 may dent demand going forward.

Among individual stocks Coal India may be in focus this morning after it toppled Reliance Industries to become the most valuable company with market value of more than $55 billion on Wednesday.