Markets may open higher; RBI policy in focus

Markets are likely to extend gains, amid firm global cues, with defensive shares leading the gains even as bank shares are likely to remain subdued ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's policy meet later today which is widely expected to maintain status quo on key rates.

At 8:40AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was up 32 points at 8,725.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Most Asian markets which were closed yesterday resumed trading today and edged higher tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Shares in Japan and China were among the top gainers with both the benchmark indices viz Nikkei and Shanghai Composite up over 1% each. Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.5% while Hong Kong market was closed for trading today.

US stocks ended higher on Monday on expectation that the US Fed would not raise interest rates on account of weaker-than-expected jobs data released last week. The Dow Jones gained 118 points at 17,880.85, S&P 500 gained 14 points at 2,080.62 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended up 30 points at 4,917.32.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

REC will be in focus after the government said it will divest 5% stake in the state-owned company through the offer for sale route on Wednesday.

The Aditya Birla group has proposed to merge Madura Garments, MGL Retail Undertaking, and Aditya Birla Retail with listed Pantaloons Fashion & Retail in a share-swap deal.

Kotak Mahindra Bank will see some action after its board fixed April 17, 2015 as the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the shareholders of ING Vyasa Bank Limited who shall be entitled to the shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

HDIL may extend gains after Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana bought 58.16 lakh shares of the company through a bulk deal on the NSE at an average price of Rs 115.25 per share.

Cairn India will see some action after the company on Monday filed a petition in the Delhi High Court here against a Rs 20,494-crore tax demand, seeking quashing of the order.