Top Stock Market Action to look out for today

The Nifty is likely to have a subdued start on Monday as weak overseas cues force traders to remain cautious after last week's 7.7 percent plunge on the benchmark.

However, traders may take heart from the fresh monthly futures and options contracts that began trading last week and from a huge buy figure from foreign institutional investors in derivatives space. Major Asian are trading in the red on Monday's morning and Wall Street had a flat close on Friday.

The SGX Nifty Futures point to a 0.5 percent down tick in opening trades on Nifty futures.

A further cause of worry is the major bounce back in crude oil futures that gained 5 percent from their 6-1/2-year lows. Gold, Silver and Copper futures are trading sideways. Investors would be enthused with the Reserve Bank of India's Governor Raghu Ram saying that he isn't through with interest rate cuts as yet. Also to look forward to is the first quarter GDP numbers that come out during trading hours today.

Meanwhile, the Nifty Index rose 53 points to 8,001 points on Friday. Support is pictured in the 7,770-7,576-point band while resistance is seen at 8,200-400.

The picture in the cash markets improved a bit after last week's carnage. Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers of a meagre 56 crore rupees of Indian equities, after 8 days of relentless selling. Net purchases made by domestic institutional investors totaled 847 crore rupees.

The bulls made tentative forays in the derivatives market. Traders were net buyers of 2,512 crore rupees for Index Futures; Net purchases of 432 crore rupees for Stock Futures; Net buys of 2,978 crore rupees for Index options and net buys of 40 crore rupees for Stock Options.