Markets languish in the red

Bharti Airtel top loser on the Sensex

Markets continue to trade with a negative bias in the morning deals. The Sensex is down 19 points at 17,866 and the 50-share Nifty has shed 7 points at 5,414 levels.

Banking stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades so far. The BSE banking index is the top sectoral loser, down 0.4% or 46 points at 11,975 levels. Power, capital goods, teck, realty and metal indices are also trading in the red.

Among the individual stocks, Bharti Airtel is down 3.4% to Rs 249.65, its lowest level since October 2006 in morning trades on the NSE after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight".

IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company has hit the upper circuit filter limit of 20% at Rs 62.30 on bagging of construction projects worth Rs 494 crore in the buildings and structures segment.

NMDC is trading higher by 3% at Rs 186 after the state-owned mining company has hiked prices of fines by 8% and for lumps by 13% for July- September quarter.
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(Updtaed at 9.17 AM)

Markets have opened lower in trades today tracking weak global cues. The Sensex has opened lower by 46 points at 17,839 and the 50-share Nifty has shed 14 points to open at 5,406 levels.

Overnight, U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after the S&P 500 hit its highest level in four years as the benchmark index faced technical resistance and traders cashed in recent gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 68 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 13,203, S&P 500 Index dropped 5 points to 1,413 and Nasdaq Composite lost 9 points to 3,067.26.

The Asian markets were also trading lower. The Nikkei was down 0.5% or 46 points at 9,110, Hang Seng was down 1% or 177 points at 19,922 and the Shnaghai Composite slipped 0.4% at 2,109 levels.

Back home, Bharti Airtel is the top loser among the Sensex stocks. The stock has opened lower by 2.2% at Rs 253 after Morgan Stanley downgraded it to "equal-weight" from "overweight" and cut its target price to Rs 280 from Rs 366.

Sterlite Industries, Tata Power, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Jindal Steel, Coal India, Gail India, Wipro, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Infosys have also opened lower in trades today.

On the other hand, Hindalco, Hero MotoCorp, TCS, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's labs, Cipla, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki and bajaj Auto are among the notable gainers.

BSE realty index is the top sectoral loser, down 0.4% or 7 points at 1,646. bankex, teck, power, oil & gas, capital goods, consumer durables and FMCG indices have also opened lower.

At the same time, healthcare, metal, IT and auto indices have opened on a flat note.

The broader markets have opened obn a flat note with BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices up  0.1% each.

The overall breadth is neutral as 689 stocks are advancing while 495 are declining.