Markets open lower as Asian markets led by Shanghai Composite plunge. The Sensex has dipped 141 points to 19,260 and Nifty has dropped 53 points to 5776.
While Indian markets ended higher after days of losses yesterday, analysts sound cautious as the rally was led by thin volumes. India Infoline Line in research note said, "Monday’s rebound came on low volume and the breadth too was not great. So, one should remain on guard as the key indices could stay sideways and rangebound."
Sell-off was seen across Asia in the morning session as investors were jittery on Europe's debt concerns spreading despite the weekend agreement on Ireland bailout and weak overnight cues from Wall Street. Shanghai Composite has fallen over 3%, Hong Kong's Heng Seng has dipped 0.4%. Financials suffered huge losses. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average has declined 1.2%, Taiwan Weighted bucked trend, up 0.9%. Seoul Composite has also been trading higher by 0.3%, as investors closely watched the US-South Korea joint naval exercise which will terminate on Wednesday.
Top losers on the Sensex in the morning session are, Hindalco Industries, down 2.5%, Reliance Communication, down 2.1% and DLF, down 1.8%.
Only 4 components on the Sensex are trading in the green. Among the telecom space, Bharti Airtel bucks trend, the stock has risen 1.9% and the top gainer on Sensex, Ranbaxy also continued its winning streak; the stock has gained 1.5%. Reliance Infra has surged 1.1%.
Realty index is the prominently loser in early trades, Unitech has lost 2.9%, Orbit Corporation has plunged 2.7% and DLF has slid 1.9%.
Among the stocks that are on the buzzer this morning, Videocon Industries is on the radar, the stock plummeted 3.7% as it seeks to unlock value through demerger, CEAT has surge 1.7% on expansion plans, Ispat Industries rose 7% on reports that Lakshmi N Mittal may be in talks to pick up stake in the company.
Broader markets are also trading marginally higher, BSE midcap index is up 0.6% and smallcap index has risen 0.4%.