 "Markets open lower on weak global cues")
Markets cotinued to trade with negative bias with information technology shares leading the decline after the sharp hike in H-1B and L-1 visas by the US Congress.
At 9:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 43 points at 25,760 and the Nifty50 was down 16 points at 7,828.
"For the Nifty resistance is seen at 7865 above 7873 and support is at 7799 below 7789," Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said in a note.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said from April 1, 2016, banks must review their lending rates frequently, and reflect changes in their cost of borrowing in a bid to force banks to effectively pass on policy rate cuts.
STOCKS IN FOCUS
BSE IT index was the top loser down 0.8% followed by Auto and Metal indices. FMCG, Realty and Capital Goods indices were the top gainers.
IT stocks were the top losers after the US Congress has doubled a special fee on the popular H-1B and L-1 visas raising it up to $4,500 to fund a 9/11 healthcare act and biometric tracking system thus hitting Indian IT companies. TCS and Infosys were down over 1% each while Wipro eased 0.6%
Private banking stocks were subdued following the RBI directive on the new lending rate regime from April 1, 2016. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 0.2-0.6% each while SBI was up 0.2%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries witnessed profit taking after sharp gains in the previous sessions and was down 0.4%. ONGC was down 0.7%.
Maruti Suzuki was up 0.6% after minority shareholders appear to have given their approval to allow Suzuki to invest and run its third plant in Gujarat. Maruti has a contract manufacturing agreement with Suzuki for the Gujarat plant, under which the Japanese auto major will sell products to Maruti on a no-profit-no-loss basis.
FMCG majors were among the top gainers with ITC and HUL up 0.4%-0.6% each.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares were trading lower tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. The Nikkei, Straits Times and DAX were trading flat with mixed bias.
US stocks ended lower on Thursday weighed down by energy shares tracking further slide in global crude oil prices while the stronger dollar post the US Fed rate hike also dampened sentiment.
