Markets made a gap down opening due to sell-off across Asia after third explosion at one of the nuclear reactors in Japan. The Nifty slipped below 5400, down 128 points, at 5398. The Sensex was down 414 points, at 18,030.
Japan's problems are expected to spin out of control after the explosion at one of the nuclear units at Fukushima Daiichi making it hard for operators to prevent nuclear radiation leak. There were reports that radiation was detected in Tokyo after Japan's Prime Minister Naoto kan warned that radiation levels would increase around the earth quake hit power plants.
Investors continued to dump Japanese stocks on fears that Japan may slip into a recession. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell alomost 13%. China's Shanghai Composite dipped 1.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 3.2% on back of broad based losses. Singapore's Straits Times fell 3.1%, Seoul Composite was off 1.9% and Taiwan Weighted declined 1.9%.
Back in India, markets may remain volatile on account of advance tax numbers expected today. Metal shares were leading the losses, the BSE metal index was down 2.6%. National Aluminium (Nalco) was down 6.1%, Sesa Goa dipped 3.8% and Tata Steel was off 3.1%. Auto shares revered gear, the BSE auto index dipped 2.7%. Ashok Leyland was down 2.9%, Tata Motors was off 2.5% and Hero Honda declined 2.2%.
All the components on the Sensex were trading in the red. Top losers on the Sensex were Tata Power fell 3.6%, Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 3.2% and Maruti Suzuki was off 3%.
Among individual stocks, Suzlon Energy was down 4.1% after its founders sold 2.25% of the company's shares. NHPC also declined 1.7% after it signed an agreement with the government of Bhutan for providing engineering services to 750 megawatt hydro electric project.
Broader markets were also leading the losses, both the midcap and smallcap indices were down over 2% each. Market breadth was negative, 1485 stocks declined for 269 stocks that advanced.
