)
Benchmark share indices have started the trading session on a lower note tracking weak global cues. By 9:30, the Sensex was lower by 85 points at 20,428 mark and the Nifty slipped by 26 points at 6,064 mark.
Asian shares were slowly giving ground on Monday as strains in emerging markets show little sign of abating, while growing pressure for another policy easing in Europe shoved the euro to 10-week lows.
Japan's Nikkei again led the way with a loss of 1.2%, hurt in part by a firm yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2%, while Seoul's KOSPI lost 0.6%.
The week ahead has plenty of event risk with a raft of global business surveys and jobs data from the United States to offer a clearer view on how well the global economy is faring, while the European Central Bank (ECB) might well ease at its meeting on Thursday.
Investors will be hoping this month is not a repeat of January, given MSCI's global index posted its largest monthly decline since May 2012. Emerging markets lost 6.6% for their worst January since 2009.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 652.97 crore on Friday, 31 January 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Back home, Lupin will announce its Q3 results today.
On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables, IT and TECk indices have declined by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Healthcare index has gained by nearly 1%.
The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Tata Steel, M&M, ITC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Infosys.
Telecom stocks is in focus as the government has put up for sale 403 units of airwaves in 1800 Mhz band and 46 units in the 900 Mhz band for spectrum auction scheduled today, 3 February 2014.
Metal stocks have edged lower as China's Purchasing Managers' Index eased in January. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminum.
On the gaining side, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma have surged between 1-2%.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap index is trading flat and BSE Smallcap index is up over 0.3%.
The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 502 shares advancing and 391 shares declining.
