Pre-Market: Volatile session ahead

Investors to keenly track corporate results and the price of precious metals which has seen a steep drop in the past week.

Markets are likely to see a volatile week as traders roll over positions from the April to May series on Thursday. Investors will keenly track corporate results and the price of precious metals which has seen a steep drop in the past week.

Traders will also watch out for the signs of a rate cut as RBI will announce the Monetary Policy Statement on May 3. The second half of the Budget session of the Parliament begins today.

In Asia, meanwhile,markets traded with a positive bias. Japan's Nikkei added 2% to 13,573. Markets in Taiwan adnd Seoul also advanced in opening deals. At 700 hrs IST, the SGX Nifty was trading higher by 17 points at 5,807.

Among the key companies which will announce the results today are Cairn India, Ultratech Cement, Mahindra Lifespace and Mindtree.

Sesa Goa is hopeful of securing forest clearances in a "matter of days" to resume operations in Karnataka. The company's mine in Chitradurga district is among the mines in the state on which the Supreme Court last week had lifted the ban.

Also watch out for Tata Motors, as the firm has lost almost 10 percentage points in market share in the domestic truck and bus market, since 2009-10, even as other brands have fought hard to wrest share away.

Wipro has disappointed with its business outlook for the information technology (IT) services business in the quarter ending June 30. On Friday, the firm reported a net profit of Rs 1,729 crore in the March quarter, 17 per cent higher than the corresponding one of 2012-13.

Also watch out for RIL as Chairman Mukesh Ambani is backing his gas and port companies with a massive fund infusion of Rs 8,575 crore.