Markets open weak

The markets have opened on a weak note, mirroring the weakness across the Asian bourses. Overnight, the US markets had exhibited lacklustre movement. The Sensex is quoting at 15,739, weaker by 172 points, and the Nifty is at 4662, down 47 points.

The major losers on the Sensex are Hindustan Unilever (weaker by 1% at Rs 273), Hero Honda (lower by 1% at Rs 1,498) and Tata Power (down 1% at Rs 1,284).

Maruti, ITC and Reliance are the other major losers.

Among the gainers, Sun Pharma is trading with an upward bias at Rs 1,380, Reliance Communications is at Rs 169 and BHEL is placed at Rs 2,168.

The FMCG, IT, auto and realty sectoral indices have been responsible for a major chunk of this morning's losses.

The market breadth is evenly placed. Out of 1,294 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 637 advancing stocks as against 630 declines.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Suzlon topped the value charts with a turnover of Rs 46.39 crore, followed by State Bank of India (Rs 40.24 crore), Educomp (Rs 29.50 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 23.97 crore) and IFCI (Rs 23.23 crore).

Suzlon leads the volume charts as well, with trades of around 8.51 million shares, followed by IFCI (5.78 million shares), Unitech (2.63 million shares), Reliance Natural Resources (2.48 million) and Reliance Communications (1.28 million).

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The Sensex is quoting at 15,802, weaker by 109 points, and the Nifty is at 4678, down 32 points