Volatility seen ahead of F&O expiry; HDFC Bank, Coal India in focus

Markets are likely to open marginally lower amid weak global cues but remain volatile later with January derivative contracts set to expire today.

At 8:30AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was down 22 points at 8,878.

Asian stocks witnessed profit taking after encouraging comments by the US Fed about the growth in the US economy and hawkish stance that it would hike interest rates later this year. Shares in Hong Kong and China  witnessed selling pressure with benchmark share indices Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite down over 1% each while Nikkei and Straits were trading with 0.1-0.2% lower.

Major US stock indices ended lower on Wednesday weighed after the US Federal Reserve at the end of of its two-day meet said that the US economy is witnessing a healthy growth and officials indicated that they would be "patient" on interest rate hikes. The dollar gained momentum following the statement from the US Fed and oil prices remain subdued.

Energy stocks were among the top losers while Apple and Boeing gained on better-than-expected earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 196 points or 1.1% to end at 17,191, the broader S&P 500 dropped 27 points ir 1.4% at 2,002 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended 44 points or 0.9% at 4,638.

Stocks in focus

Ashok Leyland will be in focus ahead of its third quarter earnings later today.

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur will be in action after the Net NPA were higher at 2.64% in Oct-Dec 2014 quarter compared to 2.49% in the previous quarter.

HDFC Bank will remain subdued on concerns of equity dilution as the company plans to raise Rs 10,000 crore through share sale.

Coal India will be under pressure ahead of the government's 5% stake sale by the Offer-for-Sale route by the government tomorrow.

Adani Power may gain after its consolidated net loss narrowed to Rs 429 crore for the quarter ended December 31 compared to Rs 545 crore in the year-ago period.

Alstom will be under pressure amid weak third quarter earnings with profit after tax down 84%.

Snowman Logistics may gain after it posted 156% rise in its net profit at Rs 5.84 crore for the quarter ended December 2014 as against Rs 2.29 crore reported in the previous quarter.

Telecom stocks will be in action after the Cabinet on Wednesday approved a base price of Rs 3,705 crore per megahertz (MHz) for 3G spectrum auction, a move which would help the government garner over Rs 1 lakh crore along with sale of other mobile frequencies.