Rising costs is seen as the major reason for corporates reporting a decline in their earnings

Negative cues from the global markets point out to a gap-down opening for the domestic market. The US markets settled mixed on Monday on concerns that rising costs will hurt corporate earnings, going forward while lower-than-expected earnings led to a negative opening for the Asian markets on Tuesday and the SGX Nifty was down 15 points to 5,862 compared to its previous close of 5,877 on Monday.

ACC, Ambuja Cements, Gateway Distriparks, Patni Computers, Petronet LNG, Tata Teleservices, UltraTech Cement and Wipro are among the corporates that will announce their earnings figures today.

The market opened sideways yesterday, weighed down by lacklustre quarterly results from Reliance Industries. The Sensex opened 63 points lower at 19,539 and the Nifty was at 5,860, down 25 points from its previous close. Gaining some strength in subsequent trade, the market touched the day's high at around 10am. The Sensex rose by 95 points to touch 19,697 and the Nifty added 22 points at 5,907 at the day's high.

The market erased most of its gains and was range-bound with the indices hovering on both sides of the neutral line till noon trade. Fluctuations continued in the post-noon trade with the market slipping to the day's low towards the end of the session, as passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki reported a marginal rise in fourth quarter earnings. At the day's low, the Sensex fell to 19,531 and the Nifty eased to 5,857. The benchmarks ended near those levels as lacklustre earnings hurt sentiment. The Sensex fell by 18 points to 19,584 and the Nifty closed the session 10 points lower at 5,875.

The market is showing signs of tiredness and unable to cross the previous high made in January. There are signs that we will get a short decline to 5,800 on the Nifty. If that level holds, the market may make an effort to move higher again. If no support comes, Nifty may fall to 5,660 and below.

Wall Street closed mixed overnight on concerns that rising costs will impact corporate earnings, going ahead. Auto equipment major Johnson Controls Inc fell 2.8% after the company said its fiscal third-quarter results would be hit by a drop in car production following Japan's massive earthquake last month. Post market hours, Netflix Inc declined 4.5% after the video rental company reported good profit and revenue, but issued an outlook for the second quarter that disappointed investors. Kimberly-Clark shed 2.7% after the consumer-products company missed analysts’ first-quarter earnings expectations.

In economic news, new home sales rose 11.1% in March to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 unit annual rate, after an upwardly revised 270,000 unit pace in February. The Federal Reserve, which is conducting its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, will reveal its plan as its $600 billion bond buying programme is nearing its end.

The Dow fell by 26.11 points (0.21%) to settle at 12,479.88. The S&P 500 shed 2.13 points (0.16%) to 1,335.25 while the Nasdaq rose 5.72 points (0.20%) to close at 2,825.88.

Muted earnings reports were also the cause for Asian markets opening lower on Tuesday. Nintendo tumbled 4.8% in Tokyo, Nidec declined 3.4% and Mitsubishi Corp lost 1.5% after copper and oil prices fell. Besides, Hyundai Merchant Marine Co tanked 4.7% in Seoul after posting an operating loss in the first quarter.

In commodity news, oil prices fell along with the dollar in choppy trade. London Brent crude fell marginally to below $124 a barrel, while US light crude shed 0.01% to close at $112.28. Gold continued to trade at record highs, settling up 0.36% at $1,508.60 while silver hit a historic high of $49.79 an ounce before paring gains to settle at $47.15.

The Shanghai Composite fell 0.32%, the Hang Seng declined 0.50%, the Jakarta Composite was down 0.14%, the KLSE Composite shed 0.04%, the Nikkei 225 tanked 0.98%, the Straits Times fell by 0.36% and the Seoul Composite shed 0.08%. On the other hand, the Taiwan Weighted was up 0.06% in early trade.

Back home, a high power committee comprising heads of various probe agencies and specialised departments has been constituted to monitor the investigation and steps taken to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks, the government informed the Supreme Court on Monday.

The government said the multi-disciplinary committee for the investigations and other steps likely to be taken, can co-opt members not below the rank of joint secretary for effective implementation of the work in consultation with the secretaries in home, foreign and defence ministries.