Markets slip on Asian cues

Markets opened on a soft note this morning, following cues from Asian indices.

Sensex opened down 52 points at 18,385. The index staged a short recovery and was down 175 points at 18,263.

The Nifty was down 48 points at 5,470.

Asian markets were in the red as investors watched the growing crisis in Libya, with investors turning to safe haven gold which in turn pushed up silver to its highest level in 31 years. The Hang Seng slumped 2% to 23,024. Nikkei shed 2% at 10,644.

US markets remained shut on Monday.

On Monday, markets in India jumped over 1% each, led by outsourcers, on views the correction this year may have been overdone with most negatives already priced in. The Sensex ended up 227 points at 18,438.

This morning, all indices barring the oil and gas index were in red. BSE auto index slumped 1.6% followed by capital goods and realty.

BSE oil & gas index jumped 2.3% to 9,720.

Market heavyweight, Reliance gained 5% in opening trades. Reliance has entered into a deal with British Petroleum (BP). Cairn India was up 1.6% at Rs 324.

However, all other Sensex stocks were in the red. Jaiprakash Associates dropped 2.5% to Rs 86.

Auto stocks were in red. Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra shed 2.3% each to Rs 1,134 and Rs 637, respectively. Maruti Suzuki dropped 2% to Rs 1,189.  Hero Honda was down 1.5% at Rs 1,417. Bajaj Auto was marginally in red.

Larsen & Toubro slipped 2% to Rs 1,617. Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and BHEL were in red - down over 1% each.

Other losers included DLF, Jindal Steel, ONGC, Tata Power and Infosys.

BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 1,434 stocks traded, 923 declined while 466 advanced.