The markets have opened in a sea of red in line with the negative cues emanating from the global Street. The Sensex is quoting at 16718, weaker by 398 points and the Nifty is at 5013, lower by 1221 points. The mid-cap and small-cap sectors shed around 2% each at 6757 and 8466 respectively.
There has been a sell-off across Asia, with the Hang Seng shedding 493 points or 2.5% and the Nikkei losing 397 points or 4%. Blame the US markets for the dismal state of affairs this morning. Wall Street had tumbled on Friday due to disappointing US payroll data, with the Dow Jones falling below 10000 mark to rest at 9931, down 323.31 points.
All the sectoral indices have predictably opened in the red, with the high-beta metal auto and banking sectors taking the bluk of the hammering.
The leading losers on the Sensex are Hindalco (weakened by 5.3% at Rs 140), Sterlite (shed 4.4% at Rs 619) and Jaiprakash Associates (lost 4.2% at Rs 117). DLF, Tata Motors and Tata Steel are the other significant losers. And index heavyweight RIL has shed 2.3% at Rs 1006.
Reliance Communications (stronger by 2.8% at Rs 172) and ONGC (higher by 1.2% at Rs 1205) are the only gainers among the Sensex-50 pack.
The market breadth has collapsed totally. Out of 1660 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 274 advancing stocks as against 1351 declines.
