Markets Below 16K, Rupee At All-Time Low

After a disappointing start to the day, the Sensex has tumbled below the 16000 mark.The 50-share Nifty has also gone below the 4900 level. Both the indices have lost a little over 1.8% at this hour.

The European stock markets opened in the red today, as the political crisis in Greece increased the investors' worries. FTSE and DAX have shed over 1% each, while CAC has lost 0.69%.

In the Asian markets the scenario is highly negative. Hang Seng has lost over 600 points from yesterday's closing and Shanghai has gone down by more than 5.6%. The Japanese Nikkei has expanded its morning losses.

Meanwhile, the rupee has crossed its previous low. It was trading at the 54.33/dollar mark at the time of writing this commentary. The rupee has also depreciated against all the other major currencies like the Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar, etc. According to Mint, the RBI is taking steps but it seems that they are not useful at the moment. The rupee's fall has been the greatest in all the major Asian countries, as per the newspaper. The absence of government policy has taken a toll on the currency.

The highly turbulent markets have proved lethal to companies wishing to access the primary market. Plastene India's IPO has been withdrawn. The Managing Director of Specialty Restaurants, however, has said that the company will go ahead with its proposed IPO.

From the sectoral indices, only Oil & Gas is marginally up. All the rest are seen under heavy selling pressure. The Auto index is down heavily by 3.39%.

Among the Sensex stocks, GAIL India and TCS have remained on top of the losers list. Tata Motors has lost nearly 7% and BHEL is down by 4.08%. All the Auto stocks on the index have taken more than 1% beatings. Banking stocks are also down by a similar margin.

The shares of Piramal Healthcare, which had risen over the news of the proposed acquisition of US-based Decision Resources Group, have now declined in value. Lupin has kept its gains, and the stock is trading up by 1.48%.

In other stocks, Godrej Consumer Products is up by 4.37%. BPCL and Videocon are trading in the positive over reports of higher gas reserves in their Mozambique assets. Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance are also trading up by over 2% each after witnessing multiple sessions of losses earlier last month. The shares of United Breweries are down by 3.47%. The company has postponed its quarterly results. Aurobindo Pharma is up 0.80% after it received final approval for the Lamivudine and Zidovudine tablets.

The scenario is disappointing, as 67% of total traded shares have now declined in value.

Parikh Herbals has touched a new high at Rs 337. Troubled airline company, Kingfisher Airlines, is trading at a new low.

As negatives signals are pouring into the markets, we expect them to close in the negative today.