Markets opened on a soft note, mirroring cues from global peers. Sensex opened down 101 points at 18,226. Thereafter it slipped to 18,200 and was trading at 18,249 - down 78 points. Nifty was down 23 points at 5,471.
US bourses ended in the negative zone on Thursday as fears of Saudi unrest dampened the economic outlook. The Dow slipped nearly 2% to end below the 12,000 mark. Nasdaq and S&P 500 dropped 1.8% each.
Asian markets were down as weak US economic data and unrest in Middle East made investors jittery. The Hang Seng shed 1% to 23,389. Nikkei slipped 0.8% to 10,347. Seoul Composite, Taiwan Weighted and Straits Times slipped 1% each.
Brent crude gained marginally to $115.65 per barrel.
Back home on Thursday, markets slipped on global cues, crude price worries and weakness in select sectors. The Sensex after a range bound session of trade ended at 18,322 - down 148 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty dropped 37 points to 5,494.
Markets will be looking towards the RBI policy review on March 17 and the fourth advance tax payment installment on March 15 for direction, now that the Union Budget is over.
BSE metal index slips 1% to 15,489. IT and realty dropped 0.6% each.
Sterlite dropped 1.7% to Rs 162. Tata Steel slipped 1.4% to Rs 588. Hindalco and Jindal Steel dropped 1% each.
Financials, telecom and infra stocks were under pressure this morning.
Jaiprakash Associates shed 1%, followed by BHEL, Tata Motors and Reliance communications. M&M, TCS, Bajaj Auto and Infosys were down nearly 1% each. Some of the other losers were SBI, HDFC and Wipro.
Meanwhile, Hero Honda gained 0.5% at Rs 1,545. ITC, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance were up marginally in trades.
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