Markets This Morning Opened on a Weak Note

The Global Markets emanate negative vibes this morning. U.S. stocks declined, halting a four-day rally, after the Federal Reserve lowered its forecast for economic growth and said it plans to finish its $600 billion bond-purchase program this month as scheduled. European stocks fell, retreating after the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s biggest gain in two months, as Royal Philips Electronics NV tumbled on deteriorating demand for lighting and consumer electronics. This morning Asian stocks fell, driving the region’s key index lower for the first day in three, after the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its growth forecast for the world’s biggest economy, fueling global growth concerns. In commodities, Oil declined for the first day in four in New York as investors speculated U.S. fuel demand may weaken after the Federal Reserve lowered its economic growth outlook for world’s biggest crude-consuming nation. Gold may decline from a seven-week high after the U.S. central bank damped speculation the central bank would expand stimulus measures and the dollar advanced. Copper declined for a second day after the U.S. Federal Reserve damped expectations for additional stimulus and reduced its growth forecast for the world’s biggest economy. Aluminum, zinc and lead also fell. The Indian markets opened in the negative with the Sensex down 23 points at 17,527 and the Nifty started lower by 12 points at 5,266, in line with the negative global markets. The broader markets, on the other hand opened mixed with the midcap index down 0.2% underperforming the Sensex which is down 0.1% and the smallcap index started flat with a positive bias at 7,808. Among the sectoral indices, Oil & Gas and IT indices are the only indices that started in the positive while Consumer Durables and Realty down 1% each are leading the losses. Rate sensitive Auto and Banking indices have started in the negative down 0.4% each. The market breadth is negative. Of the total 1451 stocks traded on the BSE, 952 stocks declined while 434 advanced.