Markets at day's low as bank shares weigh

BSE Oil & gas index has bucked the general trend and is trading in the positive zone

Markets have slumped suddenly in trades and is now at the day's low. The Sensex, after opening at 18,493, has slipped 58 points at 18452. Nifty is down 19 points at 5,555.

Broader markets, however, have managed to hold on to gains and is trading flat at 6,152 and 5,936 - respectively for the BSE mid and small-cap indices.

The rupee today gained seven paise to 54.80 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the US currency by exporters.

In Asia, meanwhile, the Nikkei has managed to surge 2% at 12,891, with the long-end of the yield curve inverting, a day after the Bank of Japan announced extraordinary stimulus measures to reignite the world's third-largest economy. Hang Seng, however, has slipped 2.5% in today's trades, with growth-sensitive sectors taking some of the bigger hits on rising worries a new strain of bird flu in China could hurt the local economy.

From the sectoral pack, BSE FMCG index has slipped 1.3% to 5,750. Power, capital goods, bankex and IT indices were also trading in the negative zone. On the other hand,the oil & gas index has added 1% at 8,379. Realty and auto are marginally in green.

DLF announced before market hours today, 5 April 2013, that a definite agreement has been entered between the company's wholly-owned subsidiary DLF Home Developers (DHDL) and Tulip Renewable Powertech (Tulip). Shares of DLF were flat at Rs 235.

Maruti Suzuki is the top gainer on the BSE Sensex - up 4.6% at Rs 1,372. The stock moved up after the Japanese yen slid to a three-and-half year low which would result in lower import costs.

GAIL, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel and ONGC are up in trades. On the other hand, HDFC has slipped 2.9% at Rs 770.ITC and NTPC are down 2.7% each. Among other key losers are ICICI Bank, Wipro and TCS.

Kotak Institutional Equities upgraded Jindal Steel and Power Ltd to "add" from "reduce", with a target price of Rs 420, noting a steep correction in share prices in the past three months. Shares of Jindal Steel & Power are up half a per cent at Rs 331.

BSE market breadth is positive. Out of 2261 shares traded so far, 1162 shares have advanced while 978 shares have declined.