Markets Continue To Open In Red

As expected in our earlier update, the Indian markets opened on a negative note today too following weak global cues and a continuously depreciating rupee against the dollar. The negative opening of the Asian markets and renewed Euro zone concerns over Spain's struggling banks disappointed the market sentiments across the globe. The Nifty is trading at the 4899 level, trading down by 1.03%, while the Sensex is down by 1.02%. One of the concerns for the falling market has been the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, which is currently hovering around 56.45/USD.

The other Asian markets fell sharply today. They opened on a negative note as growing concerns over the health of the Spanish banking system and lower-than-expected industrial production data in Japan hurt the market sentiment. The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai are trading lower by 1.25%, 1.62% and 0.46% respectively.

Back home, all the BSE sectoral indices are trading in the negative territory. There has been selling pressure in the Auto, CD and Banking spaces, which are down by 1.72%, 1.40% and 1.35% respectively. All the other indices are trading lower in the range of 0.19%-1.23%.

In individual stocks, DLF is down by 1.5% to Rs 180 after posting muted March quarter results. The company's consolidated net sales declined by 4% to Rs 2747 crore and the net profit fell strongly by 38% to Rs 211 crore.

Of the Sensex shares, Hindalco is up by 3.72% on back of news that the government has removed roadblocks on coal mining by the company. Among the major losers, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors are down by 3.12%, 3.55% and 3.45% respectively.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is very weak. On the BSE, 945 shares have fallen and 537 shares have risen. 78 shares are unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain negative for the day. The European markets could provide some vital cues later in the day.