Pre market: Stocks seen down, Q3 earnings weigh

Asian markets mixed in early trades

Markets are likely to mirror cues from global peers and trade in the negative zone. Investors will look at corporate numbers as results season begin this week.

Infosys announces Q3 results on Friday, 11 January 2013. Axis Bank announces Q3 results on 15 January 2013.

U.S. stocks slumped on Tuesday, as investors braced for Corporate America to start reporting quarterly results. The Dow Slipped 55 points while Nasdaq shed 7 points in trades.

In Asia, markets traded on a mixed note. While Nikkei slipped half aper cent to 10,460, Hang Seng advanced to 23,186. At 700 hrs IST, the SGX Nifty was down four points at 6,042.

In individual stocks,  L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited on Tuesday said it had raised Rs 500 crore short-term loan from YES Bank, outside the consortium of lenders that has pledged close to Rs 12,000 crore loan to the ongoing project. Watch out for both L&T and Axis Bank today.

Publicly-held biotechnology major Biocon announced on Tuesday that it has received marketing authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India for its novel biologic Itolizumab, anti CD6 molecule, for the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis.

Watch out for Maruti Suzuki as it expects a pickup in the demand for petrol cars, even as the diesel segment continues to record strong volumes.

State-owned Manganese Ore India will invest Rs 1,200 crore in a phased manner to increase production to over 2 million tonne by 2020. This may bring the stock into focus today.