Markets open lower, global cues weigh

Markets opened in the negative on back of weak global cues. The Sensex has dropped 60 points to 20,250 and the Nifty has fallen 19 points to 6102.

Technical charts have also indicated that the Nifty may trade in the negative. Ravi Nathani, technical analyst, said "intermediate trend is still down; traders should trade with the strict stop loss as markets are expected to be highly volatile." Even Prakash Gaba, technical analyst reckoned that the markets are weak, "the uptrend will continue if the index holds above 6050, crucial support on the downside for Nifty was seen at 6050-6000 and resistance at 6153-6188."

Asian markets were trading in the red in the morning session as US markets ended marginally lower on concerns that the Federal Reserve may scale back its effort to stimulate the crippling economy. Fresh concerns of Sovereign debt stemming Eurozone’s Ireland also weighed.

Markets in Hong Kong were trading flat and Shanghai Composite was off 0.8% on back of losses in energy shares. South Korea's Seoul Composite slipped 0.9% after Bank of Korea increased the base rate by 25 bps to 2.5% to tame inflation, Strait Times was trading flat and Taiwan Weighted was up 0.3%.

Among the stocks on the move this morning, Bharti Airtel rose 1.5% after reports that Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. Mahindra Satyam dropped almost 11% after second quarter net profit plunged to Rs 23 cr versus Rs 98 cr in the first quarter and reports that Brokerage BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to hold from buy. Others such as Dabur India rose more than 4% after news that the company will acquire US based Namaste Laboratories.