Markets Trade on a Flat Note

The Global Markets gives out mixed clues this morning. U.S. stocks fell, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below 10,000 for the first time in seven weeks, as concern about Spains fiscal stability and a slowdown in manufacturing wiped out early gains triggered by a drop in jobless claims. European stocks rallied from a five- week low as rising profits from Credit Agricole SA to LOreal SA and a better-than-estimated report on the U.S. jobs market eased concern about the economy. This morning Asian stocks fell, set for their third weekly decline, as materials and technology stocks retreated ahead of revisions to U.S. economic growth figures, and as the yen continued to rise against all major counterparts. In commodities, Crude oil declined for the first time in three days after U.S. equities fell as a slowdown in manufacturing added to concern that economic growth is faltering and curbing fuel demand. Gold demand in Vietnam, which consumes more of the precious metal per head than India and China, is set to surge as the third devaluation in the past year and a stock-market slump combine to spur sales. Copper rose the most in a month as a bigger-than-forecast drop in U.S. jobless claims eased concern that the economic recovery is faltering. After starting off in red the Indian markets regained their grounds and trade almost flat in red. The main gainers morning are the Metal, PSU and Oil & Gas indices. Market breadth is positive with 1,554 advances against 1,097 declines. The Sensex trades in red at 18,226.35 declining 4.13 points or 0.02 percentage points. Nifty trades at 5477.10 declining by 0.80 points or 0.01 percentage points.