Markets have extended losses after opening lower due to losses in heavyweights such as HDFC, L&T and ITC. The Sensex fell 229 points, at 19,356 and the Nifty dipped 67 points, at 5806.
-----------------------------------Updated at 9:35
Markets opened in the red and were trading lower following weak Asian peers. The Nifty declined 28 points, at 5,846 and Sensex fell 90 points, at 19,491 in the morning session.
Markets may continue to tread water on back of F&O expiry this week and a slew of quarterly earnings today. Developments on the graft front will be closely watched after police arrested senior congress leader Suresh Kalmadi, chief organizer of the Delhi Commonwealth Games and also charged alliance partner DMK (Dravida Munetra Kazhagam) chief's daughter K. Kanimozhi in 2G scam case.
Analysts recommend investors to buy into the Nifty index on dips. Edelweiss in the morning note said, “On the technical charts Nifty is trading in an upward rising trend channel and is well supported by the daily 21 EMA (Exponential Moving Average) and 200 SMA (Simple Moving Average) at 5771 and 5738 respectively. Hence investors should buy on declines. “Edelweiss recommends initiating trading longs on intraday dips to 5840 with a reversal placed below 5800 for a target of 5945 and 6000.
Oil marketing firms (OMCs) surged on expectations of petrol price hike. BPCL surged 2.1%, IOC gained 1.8% and HPCL advanced 1.8% lifting the oil & gas index by 0.1%.
IT shares were leading the losses in the opening trades; the BSE IT index was down 0.5%. Wipro fell 0.3% ahead of results, Patni Computers was off 3.3% and TCS was down 0.7%.
Among cement firms - ACC declined 0.8%, Ambuja Cements fell 0.4%, and UltraTech dipped 2.2% ahead of quarter earnings expected later today.
From the broader markets space, midcap and smallcap indices were trading flat.
Top losers on the benchmark were Sterlite down 1.6%, Maruti Suzuki declined 1.5% and HDFC was down 1%. Only 6 components on the Sensex were trading in the green, Bharti Airtel was up 0.6%, Reliance Communication advanced 0.5% and ONGC was up 0.4%.
On the global front, Markets across Asia were also down in the morning session led by losses in game related shares after Tokyo's Nitendo said profits declined for the second consecutive year. Monetary tightening fears in Beijing also weighed. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 1% as rising Yen weighed on export related stocks.
China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.4% after China Securities Journal said consumer price index may rise 5.5% in April against last year which may put pressure on Beijing to hike rates. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also fell with resource shares leading the losses after commodity prices eased.
