Markets in red on global cues

Markets have opened in the red this morning owing to global cues. The Sensex opened at 19,828 - down 128 points. The index is now down 196 points at 19,761.

Nifty, after closing above 6,000 yesterday has once again slipped below the mark. The index is trading down 61 points at 5,948.

US markets dropped in trades on Monday as banking stocks declined. Reports surfaced of insider trading, dampening investor sentiments. The Dow shed 25 points to 11,179.

Asian markets are trading on a subdued note. The Hang Seng has dropped 1.3% to 23,203. Shanghai Composite has shed 1.6% to 2,838. However, Nikkei, is up 1% at 10,115. The SGX Nifty is down 58 points (1%) at 5,952.

Back home on Monday, markets recovered from last week's lows on banking and IT stocks, as Ireland bailout plans buoyed sentiments across the globe. The Sensex closed at 19,957 - up 372 points. Nifty surged 119 points to end above the 6,000 mark.

"The market has recorded a recovery which improves the undercurrent. The market continues to be in a corrective phase and the long term trend remains up. The market is expected to remain volatile in view of expiry of derivative contracts due on 25th this week," says Avinash Gupta, Vice President Research Equity, Bonanza Portfolio.

All sectoral indices are in red. The realty index has shed 2% in opening trades to 3,174.

Bankex, metal and auto indices are down over 1% each.

Bharti Airtel has dropped 2% to Rs 330. DLF has shed 2% to Rs 312. Reliance Infrastrcuture is down 1.5%.

Cipla, Jindal Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Power are also trading in red.

Some of the other major losers are Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and SBI.

Market heavyweight - Reliance is down 1% at Rs 1,003. ICICI Bank is down 1% at Rs 1,167.

However, FMCG major, Hindustan Unilever has maanged to gain nearly 1% at Rs 302.