Nifty close to 5,100; Rupee at 68.7/$

Selling intensifies in broader markets; midcap index down nearly 2% and midcap index slip 1%

Value destruction continued in the markets with the benchmark indices slipping further as there were no signs of putting a cap on the pace of Rupee depreciation. Rupee extended its fall to a record low of 68.72 per dollar; down 3.5% today.

At 1015 hrs, the Sensex was down 331 points at 17,636 and the Nifty dipped 108 points to trade below the 5,200 mark at 5,178.

Selling intensified in the broader markets too with the midcap index losing nearly 2%, in line with the BSE benchmark index while the smallcap index was down nearly 1%.

Meanwhile, the IT index surged and was up over 2% as Rupee depreciated to record levels in morning deals. TCS was the top gainer, up 4% followed by Wipro and Infosys gaining 2% each.

All the sectoral indices were in n the negative, with a loss of atleast 1%.
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(Updated at 1015 hrs)

Markets cracked in the opening trades with the benchmark indices opening lower by over 1% each as Rupee collapsed to a new record low of 67.98/dollar.
 
At 0916 hrs, the Sensex was down 220 points at 17,747 and the Nifty slipped 78 points to trade at 5,209.
 
In the broader markets, the fall was minimal as compared to the loss on the BSE benchmark index. The smallcap index was down 0.3% and the midcap index gave of 0.8%, both outperforming the Sensex which was down 1.2%.

 
In Asia, too, jitters over a possible U.S.-led military strike against the Syrian government knocked Asian equities on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting a two-month low, and pushed oil prices and safe-haven gold to multi-month highs.
 
Tokyo's Nikkei share average sagged 2.4% to a two-month low, while the yen was largely steady at 97.00 to the dollar and 129.870 to the euro after climbing more than 1% overnight.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5% on Wednesday, extending the previous session's 1.2% drop.
 
Overnight, U.S. and European stocks suffered their worst day since June, and investor nervousness was reflected in a nearly 12% jump on the CBOE volatility index, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, to a two-month high.

Adding to the global woes, oil surged, with benchmark Brent crude hitting six-month highs, as the West mulled a military strike on Syria after U.S. accusations the country used chemical weapons on civilians. Brent crude settled up $3.63 at $114.36 a barrel, after an earlier high of $114.42.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, IT and Teck index up 1% and 0.6% each were the top gainers. Metal and Consumer Durables indices were flat with a positive bias.

Among the ones in the red, Bankex, PSU, Oil & Gas, realty and Capital Goods indices dropped 2-2.5% and were major sectoral losers in the opening deals.

Among the Sensex-30, metal names like Jindal Steel, Hindalco and Tata Steel gained 1-3%.

IT majors - Infosys, TCS and Wipro too had a green tick, with gains between 1.5-2%.

Tata Motors, Tata Power, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddys Lab and NTPC were the only other gainers, up 0.4-1.6%.

On the losing side were ONGC, BHEL and HDFC down 4.7-5.7% along with ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, RIL, ITC and SBI, all losing 2-3%.

The market breadth was negative. 662 stocks declined while 245 stocks advanced on the BSE.