Markets Trade in Red Tracking Weak Global Cues

The Global Markets opened on a mixed note. U.S. stocks slumped, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its biggest decline in a month, as the Federal Reserve announced plans to buy $400 billion of long- term debt and cited risks to the economic outlook. European stocks retreated as officials said they plan to return to Athens next week after three days of consultations failed to produce a solution to the country’s debt crisis. This morning Asian stocks tumbled, sending the regional benchmark index toward its lowest close in more than a year, after the U.S. Federal Reserve warned of “significant downside risks to the economic outlook” and Moody’s Investors Service cut its debt ratings on some U.S. banks. In commodities, Oil fell for a second day in New York as investors speculated that fuel demand will falter after the U.S. Federal Reserve said there are ‘significant downside risks’ to the economic outlook of the world’s biggest crude- consuming nation. Gold may drop as some investors sell the metal to raise cash after a pledge by the U.S. Federal Reserve to buy $400 billion of long-term debt failed to lift investor confidence, hurting equities and other commodities. Copper tumbled into a so-called bear market, slumping for a fifth day after the Federal Reserve said that the U.S. economy faces significant downside risks, eroding prospects for industrial-metals demand. On the domestic front the markets witnessed a negative opening following weak trades across the global markets. The BSE Sensex trades at 16,723, down 342 points and the Nifty at 5,032, down 100 points.  Among the sectoral indices, BSE Metal, Realty and Bankex indices are leading the losses, down nearly 2 per cent each. The overall market breadth is negative as 1,136 stocks have declined against 383 advancing ones, on the BSE.