Markets hit by weak global sentiments

Indian markets opened on a negative note today amid weak global cues and persisting fears of the Euro debt crisis, which dented sentiments across the globe. Both, the Sensex and the Nifty, are down by  0.58% and 0.64% respectively.

The Asian markets also opened on a negative note, with the Hang Seng trading at the lowest levels in nearly 3 years. The tight liquidity situation and worries on the property sector hit sentiments in the Asian markets.

Previously, the European markets had closed in the red zone amid concerns that the banking sector will face problems in raising further capital. Also, the Euro zone sovereign debt worries affected investors negatively.

Back home, among the sectoral indices all the indices barring IT are trading with losses between 0.07%-1.58%. IT though, is up with marginal gains of 0.34%.

Of the Sensex shares, Infosys is leading with gains of 0.60%. All the other stocks on the index are trading negatively with losses between 0.10%-3%. Bharti Airtel, BHEL and JP Associates remain the top major losers, and are down by 2.85%, 2.53% and 2.69% respectively.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is negative. On the BSE, 963 shares fell and 684 shares rose. 71 shares remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain flat and volatile for the day. The European markets would provide some vital cues on the desired direction of the market trend in the late afternoon session.