Markets turn weak after flat opening; Asia weighs

After making a flat opening, markets have slipped into red zone tracking Asian cues. By 9:30, the Sensex was lower by 39 points at 21,025 mark and the Nifty gained by 9 points at 6,253 levels.

After the BSE Sensex last week posted its biggest gain, some profit-booking is seen at higher levels. Trends in investment by Foreign Institutional Investors, movement in global markets and the rupee trajectory would be keenly watched for cues

Stock markets will take cues from the next batch of earnings from blue-chips, including HDFC and L&T, this week amid cautious trading ahead of the RBI policy later this month, say experts.

Asian Paints and UltraTech Cement will unveil the Q3 numbers today. Major corporate announcing results this week include Ashok Leyland, HDFC, L&T and Cairn India.

On the global front, Wall Street stocks fell on Friday as quarterly earnings of Intel and General Electric disappointed, contributing to a decline in a measure of global equity markets, while the dollar hit a seven-week high against the euro.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell, led by losses in Intel and General Electric after disappointing results. But both indexes managed to end the week slightly higher.

Asian markets were in a hesitant mood on Monday ahead of figures that are expected to show a slight slowdown in regional powerhouse China, while Deutsche Bank soured sentiment by reporting a surprise loss and falling revenues.

In muted early action, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2%, and Australia's market eased 0.3%.

Back home, BSE Realty index declined by nearly 1% followed by counters like Capital Goods, Banks, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and FMCG, all falling down marginally. However, BSE Power index has gained by nearly 0.5%.

The main losers on the Sensex at this hour Axis Bank, L&T, Sesa Sterlite, RIL, HDFC, Dr Reddy’s Lab, HUL and Maruti Suzuki.

On the gaining side, Cipla, BHEL, ONGC, Wipro and TCS have gained between 0.4-1%.

Among other shares, Reliance MediaWorks has surged 16% to Rs 53.90 after the company said it is planning to delist its shares from the bourses.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up over 0.2%.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 595 shares advancing and 453 shares declining.