Following weak global cues, the markets opened in the red. The Sensex is currently down 31 points at 17,099 and the Nifty is down eight points at 5,152. Earlier in the day, the Sensex started at 17,056 and the Nifty started down 31 points at 5,128.
Overnight, in the US markets, fear returned to Wall Street, sending the S&P 500 to another 4% decline, triggered by worries that Europe's debt crisis could engulf French banks and spill onto the US financial sector. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 4.6% to 10,720. The S&P 500 fell 4% to 1,121. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 4% to 2,381.
Asian stocks too fall sharply in the initial trade as a fallout from Wall Street's 4% drop overnight limited by a rise in US stock futures. Almost all the Asian indices are currently in the red except Shanghai Composite up 0.2% and Seoul Composite up 0.8%.
Back home, the broader markets too are quite. The midcap and the Smallcap indices are flat around 6,555 and 7,679, respectively.
Among the sectoral indices, IT index down 1% was the top loser among the sectoral indices in the opening trades. This was followed by rate sensitives, Realty, Auto losing 0.5-0.6%. Meanwhile, the Healthcare index has jumped over 1% to 6,153.
The draggers in the IT space are Wipro, TCS and HCL Technologies down 1% each.
The movers in the Consumer durables space are VIP Industries and Gitanjali Gems up 2% each.
The top gainers among the Sensex stocks are Coal India, Cipla, Sun Pharma adding between 0.4-0.7%.
Apart from the IT scrips, the top losers are Tata Power, ONGC, Jaiprakash Associates and Tata Motors down 0.8-1.5% each.
The market breadth is negative. 640 stocks declined while 570 advanced on the BSE.
