The markets have a soft opening, with the Sensex quoting at 18,545, weaker by 102 points and the Nifty losing 33 points at 5,570. The smallcap index opened at 10,157, down 0.03% and the midcap index started at 7,960,losing 0.1%.
The US stocks fell in very light volume on Tuesday as investors seized on renewed concerns about European banks, as a reason to sell shares after strong gains last week. The Dow Jones fell 107 points, or 1% at 10,340.69. The Nasdaq shed 25 points, or 1%
at 2,209. In sync, the Asian markets too had a soft opening. Hang Seng has dropped 1.2% to 21,134 and the Nikkei has shed 2% at 9,044 in early trades.
Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, Health Care up 0.6% is the only index in the positive. Metal, Bankex and Realty down 0.6% each are the biggest losers in the opening trades.
ONGC up 0.6% is the top gainer on the Sensex followed by Hindustan Unilever and Tata Motors adding 0.3% each, ACC and L&T gaining 0.2% and 0.09% resspectively.
On the losers side are Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel down 1% each. TCS,Sterlite,ICICI Bank,SBI and HDFC shedding 0.5% - 0.8%.
The market breadth is negative. Of the total 1688 stocks traded, 799 has declined while 839 has advanced.
