Global cues take markets lower

Sensex opens lower by 70 points

Markets have opened on a weak note on the back of negative global cues. The Sensex has opened weaker by 70 points at 18,624 and the 50-share Nifty has slipped 26 points to 5,647 levels.

Overnight, the US stocks declined on Tuesday as investors sought a catalyst to justify further gains while the euro was under pressure on concerns about a bailout for debt-laden Spain.

Earlier Wall Street had been buoyed by end-of-quarter buying by funds and a higher-than-expected reading of confidence among American consumers.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 102 points, or 0.75% at 13,457, S&P 500 Index was down 15 points at 1,442 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 43 pointsto close at 3,118.

Asian shares and commodities fell on Wednesday as protests in Spain underscored the country's financing challenges and investors refocused on slowing global growth as rallies, fed by major central bank easing measures, faded.

The Hang Seng was down 182 points at 20,516, Shanghai Composite slipped 10 points to 2,018 and the Nikkei was down 156 points at 8,936.

Back home, selling pressure is visible across most of the sectors. Maruti Suzuki is the top loser among the Sensex stocks. The stock has opened weaker by 1.6% at Rs 1,300 on reports that it has raised wages by 50% for workers at its Gurgaon unit.

Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Tata Power, SBI, ONGC and HDFC have also opened weaker by 1-1.5% each.

On the other hand, FMCG and healthcare stocks are witnessing buying in the opening deals. Cipla, HUL and ITC are the top gainers on the Sensex. NTPC, TCS and Wipro are also among the gainers.

On the sectoral front, the BSE metal index is the top loser. Index has slipped 1% or 107 points to 10,455. Capital goods, power, auto, bankex, PSU, oil & gas, consumer durables, realty and IT indices are also trading weaker by 0.3-1% each. At the same time, helathcare and FMCG indices are up 0.6 and 0.2% each respectively.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are up 0.1% each.

The overall breadth is neutral as 650 stocks are advancing while 543 are declining.