Pre market: Weak opening on cards

It is likely to be another day of weakness for Indian amrkets as the global markets continued to remain weak. At 700 am Indian Standard Time, the SGX Nifty was trading at 5,740 – down 23 points.

Global stocks fell overnight on worries about Washington's ability to resolve the "fiscal cliff" in a timely manner before nearly $600 billion worth of spending cuts and tax increases kicks in early 2013 unless a compromise is reached to cut the deficit. There is also the issue of a debt ceiling, which needs to be raised to avoid a government shutdown.

A recession in the United States, which had recently defied a general trend in other parts of the world by showing signs of a modest recovery, could drag the global economy down further.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 121 points, or 0.94%, to end at 12,811. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 17 points, or 1.2%, to 1,378, ending at its lowest level since August 2. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 42 points, or 1.4%, to close at 2,896.

Asian shares fell further on Friday, weighed down by worries over the risk of a recession in the world's largest economy as the United States faces a looming fiscal crisis, while Europe still awaits a bailout for Greece, keeping investor risk appetite subdued.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.5%, after sliding 1.3% on Thursday for its biggest one-day%age drop in two months.

Japan's Nikkei average was down 1.1%.

The euro buckled near a two-month low against the dollar on Friday after the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said he saw few signs of recovery in the euro zone economy.The euro hit a two-month low of $1.2717 on Thursday and last stood at $1.2745, barely holding above a key support from a 38.2% retracement of the currency's gain from July to September at $1.2741.

Back home, the bulls are likely to have the upper hand as long as the index sustains above 5,685.The weeklt charts are fairly bullish and indicate a target of around 5,900- odd levels. Today, the NSE index is likely to seek support around 5,720-5,705, while face resistance around 5,755-5,770.

STOCKS TO WATCH

NMDC may see some action as the company decided to cut iron ore prices by up to 11% for November.

DLF will be in spotligt as its promoter Pia Singh, daughter of Chairman K P Singh, is selling up to 1.25 crore shares in the company for about Rs 270 crore to 10 other promoter entities.

ONGC may see a red tick as an over 115% jump in subsidy burden has pulled down ONGC’s net profit by 31.8% in the quarter ended September 30.

Tata Motors may face some pressure as Jaguar recalled 4,195 XF cars in the United States to fix a potential fuel leak problem, according to documents filed with U.S. safety regulators.

Some of the second quarter numbaers expected today include Apollo Hospital,Aurobindo Pharm,BPCL,Cox & Kings,Essar Oil,GlaxoSmithKline,HPCL,Jindal Steel,Lanco Infratech,MOIL,Pantaloon Retail,Power Finance Corporation,Punj Lloyd,SBI,Sun TV Network,Suzlon Energy and UB Holdings.