Markets have recovered marginaly after witnessing a gap down opening on the back of a wee bit of buying visible in the auto stocks. The Sensex is down 139 points at 15,826 and the Nifty is at 4,798, down 42 points. The markets opened lower and the Sensex touched the intra-day low of 15,748.
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(Updated at 9.25 AM)
Markets have witnessed a gap down opening in trades today on the back of mounting concerns over the slowdown in the global economy. The Sensex has opened weaker by 166 points or 1% at 15,799 and the S&P CNX Nifty has plunged 52 points to open at 4,789 levels.
US stocks dropped more than 2% on Friday after poor labour market figures. That combined with dismal data on industry from the US, Europe, China and elsewhere to produce a picture of a sharply slowing global economy.
Fallowing this the Asian markets have also plunged in trades today. The Nikkei was down 165 points at or nearly 2% at 8,275. Hang Seng slipped 2.2% to 14,147 and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.3% to 2,342 levels.
Back home, All the Sensex stocks are trading lower. Larsen & Toubro is the top loser, down 2% to Rs 1,111. Jindal Steel, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, BHEL, Cipla and Reliance Industries are also among the top losers, down 1-2% each.
Selling pressure is visible across the board. Consumer durable, metal and capital goods stocks are amongst the worst hit. The BSE consumer durable index is down 2% or 127 points at 6,028 levels. Metal, capital goods, bankex, IT, oil & gas and realty indices are also among the laggards on the sectoral front.
The broader markets are in line with the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap index is down 62 points at 5,759 and the small-cap index has shed 46 points at 6,148 levels.
Among the individual stocks, Indraprastha Gas Limited is trading higher by 2% at Rs 254 in an otherwise weak, extending its 29% gain on Friday after the Delhi High Court quashed the PNGRB order.
In April, the regulator (PNGRB) had ordered IGL to cut network tariff by around 60% retrospectively from April 2008. The total refund on account of the retrospective nature of the order was pegged between Rs 900-1,200 crore. IGL had argued that the order would wipe out the company's entire net worth of Rs 1,500 crore.
Future Capital Holdings is trading higher by 6% to Rs 145 in otherwise weak market ahead of the board meeting today to decide on the valuation for divestment of the entire promoter stake of 56.30% stake to Warburg Pincus.
The overall breadth is extremely negative as 960 stocks are declining while 310 are advancing.
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