Markets open lower on March F&O expiry

Broader markets flat in the opening trades

Markets opened lower on final day of March derivative expiry over exacerbating euro-zone debt concerns and after pending U.S. home sales fell.

Markets in India, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will be closed tomorrow for the Good Friday holiday.

At 9:30AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex fell 61 points at 18,643 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty dropped 18 points at 5,624.

European governments and the International Monetary Fund agreed Monday to lend Cyprus 10 billion euros ($13 billion) as long as the country liquidated its second-largest bank and forced losses on bank bondholders and deposits of more than 100,000 euros.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei down 1.6% to 12,298, Strait Times fell 0.14% to 3,308, Hang Seng declined 1% to 22,220 while Shanghai dropped 2.6% to 2,240.

Back home, real-estate, consumer durables, autos, banks, oil & gas, metals sectors dropped while IT and capital goods were among the gainers on BSE.

The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Hero Moto, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, RIL and JSPL, all falling between 1-2%.

The broader markets opened mixed with mid-caps and small-caps dropping 0.01-0.2% on BSE.

Among other shares, HCL Technologies is trading higher by 2% at Rs 791 in otherwise weak market after the information technology consulting and software firm said that has bagged a multi-year infrastructure management services contract of $100 million from US-based automaker Ford Motor Company.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 799 stocks traded, 463 stocks declined compared to 301 advances on BSE.