Weak Global Sentiments Drag Markets Further Down

The Indian markets opened on a negative note today and continue to trade weak following infirm global markets. The weak Asian markets and the negative opening of the major European markets are not helping. The lack of positive triggers, weak quarterly earnings and the May derivative expiry in this week have also kept the markets muted. The Nifty is unable to hold the 5000 mark and is trading down by 0.69%, while the Sensex is down by 0.57%.

Other Asian markets continue to trade on a negative note after Chinese officials declined any stimulus measures to boost growth in the economy. Among the major Asian markets, Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai are trading lower by 1.98%, 0.28% and 0.21% respectively.

The European markets have also opened on a negative note today. The debt problem in the country continues to hurt investor sentiment. The recent concerns on Spain’s struggling banking sector and the rising borrowing cost have further added woes to the country's ability to solve the crisis.

Back home, among the BSE sectoral indices, IT, Teck and FMCG are up by 0.68%, 0.48% and 0.21% respectively. All the rest are trading in the negative zone. The Auto, CD and Banking spaces have witnessed selling pressure, and are down by 3.51%, 1.59% and 1.43% respectively. The other indices are all trading lower in the range of 0.08%-1.21%.

In individual stocks, Hindustan Copper has surged 1.6% to Rs 256.30 as the company posted strong numbers for the Mar 2012 quarter. The net sales of the company increased by 96% to Rs 585 crore and the net profit rose by 125% to Rs 137 crore.

ONGC also came out with a good set of numbers for the quarter, and is up by 0.16% to Rs 256. The Specialty Restaurants IPO, which made its debut today, hit the upper circuit at Rs 160, up by 7% over its issue price of Rs 150.

Among the Sensex shares, Tata Motors is significantly down by 8% to Rs 253 on the back of lower-than-expected results for Q42012. SBI is also down by -1.54 to Rs 2087 on the back of some profit taking.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is very weak. On BSE, 1452 shares have fallen and 998 shares have risen. 113 shares remain unchanged.