Markets open lower on weak global cues; China's Services PMI at 17-month low

Markets have opened the Wednesday session on a lower note following weakness in the global peers. China's services sector — the biggest contributor to gross domestic product — dropped to a 17-month low in December which further dented  the sentiments.

At 9:40 am, the S&P BSE Sensex is down 39 points to quote at 25,541 and the Nifty50 has shed 18 points to trade at 7,770. However, the broader markets continue to outperform the larger peers with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 0.2%.

"For the Nifty, resistance is seen at 7,812 above 7,841, 7,880 and 7,910. Support for the Nifty is seen at 7,765 below 7,736, 7,715 and 7,669," Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said in note.

On Tuesday markets finished flat, amid a volatile trading session, on global growth concerns and rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Prominent losers in the morning trades are Infosys, Vedanta, ICICI Bank, Lupin and ONGC down between 0.5%-1%.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Most Asian shares except for China were trading with losses as volatile global crude oil prices amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Japanese shares fell the most with the benchmark Nikkei down 1.2% while Straits Times and Hang Seng were down 0.5%. Meanwhile, China shares which were trading firm in the morning trades have now tirned flat on the back of sluggish Services PMI numbers.
 

Stocks on Wall Street stabilised to end flat with positive bias amid a volatile trading session on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average ended 10 points at 17,159 while the broader S&P 500 gained 4 points at 2,017. However, tech-laden Nasdaq ended down 12 points at 4,891.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

Telecom stocks including Bharti Airtel, RCom and Idea Cellular are trading nearly 1% higher each as the Delhi High Court is likely to pronounce its order on compensation for call drops later today. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has asked operators to pay a compensation of Re one for every call drop, maximum three calls per day per mobile user, starting January 1.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet is surging over 1% on reports that the airline announced network expansion and flight frequencies on 10 routes, including extra services on the Delhi-Kabul sector.

Healthcare services firm Narayana Hrudayalaya will list its shares on the stock exchanges today, marking the first IPO of 2016. The equity shares will be listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as on the BSE. 

Another stock in green is Tech Mahindra up 0.5% as it is focusing on further boosting its integrated engineering unit with partnerships, investing internally and, potentially, more acquisitions as it looks to capitalize on the opportunities in the automotive space. 

On the flip side, Apollo Hospitals is trading down by 0.5% after the Income tax investigators conducted searches in its properties. 

The metal pack is witnessing selling pressure as the concerns in the World’s second largest economy resurfaces with China’s Services PMI at 17-month low. Hindalco, Vedanta and Tata Steel down between 1%-1.5%.

Another pack which is trading lower is the Auto pack. Hero Motocorp, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto down between 0.5%-1%.