Markets open on a soft note

Markets opened on a quiet note this morning. Sensex opened down 52 points at 18,125. Thereafter, the index slipped further to 18,070 - down 102 points.

Nifty was down 31 points at 5,406.

US markets dropped for the second straight day, in line with global indices. The Dow slipped 107 points to 12,106. Nasdaq dropped 1.2% to 2,723. S&P 500 was flat at 1,307.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note. Hang Seng gained 116 points to 23,023. Nikkei dropped 44 points to 10,534. Taiwan Weighted jumped 1% to 8,630.

Markets on Wednesday dropped following a drop in global stocks from the recent 30-month highs as the Libyan political turmoil sent oil prices soaring to 2 1/2 year highs, and raising concerns of a disturbance in the global economic recovery. The Sensex shed 118 points to 18,178. Nifty slipped 32 points to 5,437.

Investors are likely to trade on a cautious note, ahead of the expiry session and the Budget on Monday, February 28.

The stocks to watch out for today include SBI, Ashok Leyland, Coal India, Binani Cements and SAIL. MphasiS and Strides Arcolab will be coming out with their quarterly numbers today.

Most of the sectoral indices were in red. BSE healthcare and IT indices dropped 0.7% each in morning trades.

Aurobindo Pharma, among pharma stocks have crashed 13% to Rs 178 on fears that the FDA may issue warrants againts one or more of its drugs. Ranbaxy, down 1% at Rs 458, slipped for the second day after USFDA banned 30 drugs manufactured by the company. The company would repay $550 million next month to overseas investors who hold bonds convertible into equity.

Among other pharma stocks, Apollo Hospitals, Divis Labs, Orchid Chemicals, Opto Circuits and Dr Reddy's Labs were down 1-2% each.

Among Sensex stocks, Maruti Suzuki shed 2.7% to Rs 1,161. Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Jaiprakash Associates and ICICI Bank slipped 1% each.

Metal stocks were in red. Hindalco and Sterlite slipped 0.7% each. Market heavyweight, Reliance, dropped 0.5% to Rs 991.

Meanwhile, Hero Honda jumped 2.7% to Rs 1,507. Bharti Airtel gained 2% to Rs 335. Tata Steel and DLF have added 0.5% each.