All eyes on CPI: 10 things to know before the opening bell

Global cues:

Asian shares and currencies were mostly firmer on Monday in the wake of surprisingly weak U.S. jobs numbers that revived speculation the Federal Reserve could keep policy loose for longer.Activity in Asia on Monday was curbed by a holiday in Japan. South Korea managed a rise of 0.6 percentin line with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan which was also 0.6 percent higher.

[caption id=“attachment_1209725” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended modestly higher on Friday, led by gains in defensive names after a weaker-than-expected payrolls report raised new questions about both the strength of the economy and the aggressiveness of Federal Reserve stimulus.

The U.S. dollar nursed broad losses early on Monday after surprisingly soft employment data raised doubts about how quickly the Federal Reserve can scale back stimulus.The dollar index last traded at 80.630, having fallen 0.4 percent on Friday after data showed U.S. employers hired the fewest workers in nearly three years in December.

More from Investing

MSMEs are breaking the traditional convention. Look who’s funding them Scale-up your startup without an investor! Here’s how

Business/Stock news:

Tata Motors will be in focus today. India has emerged as one of the fastest growing markets for Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which posted record sales for 2013 as the iconic British luxury brands sold 425,000 cars worldwide.The record sales of over 400,000 cars marked the UK-based car maker’s strongest-ever full year global sales performance while the US, Germany and India are now JLR’s fastest growing markets.

Keep an eye onIndian Oil Corp. Ltd. The government is exploring the option of selling its shares to other oil PSUs likeOil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd(ONGC) andOil India Ltd.

Already facing an exodus of top management, Infosys is also struggling to retain talent at mid and junior levels, with 1,823 people leaving the firm in the October-December quarter. The country’s second-largest software exporter added 6,682 employees on gross level in the reported quarter, but the total headcount was lower by 1,823 at 1,58,404 people. Infosys said the net hiring is down since freshers from the campus had joined in the first two quarters. The IT company announced its results on Friday.

Economy news:

India’s stubbornly high inflation finally appears to be slowing down following a cooling in vegetable prices, bringing some relief to the ruling Congress party which is struggling to win back voters ahead of a national election due by May. According to a Reuters poll, consumer inflation, probably eased to a three-month low of 9.92 percent in December, from 11.24 percent the previous month - the highest reading on record.Wholesale prices, India’s benchmark inflation, also likely edged down last month to 7.00 percent from a 14-month high of 7.52 percent in November, the Reuters poll showed.

State-owned Coal India (CIL) will once again invite fresh applications from interested entities for importing coal that would be supplied to power plants under fuel supply agreements as the earlier tender floated by the PSU elicit no response.