Markets soft in opening trades

Markets have opened soft on cues from global peers.

The Sensex opened at 17,705. The index dropped almost immediately and touched a low of 17,638. The Sensex is now down 75 points at 17,654.

The Nifty is down 26 points at 5,294.

US markets dropped on Thursday as worries about stringent financial regulation provoked investors to unload positions. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 146 points, or 1.4%, to 10,153. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 37 points, or 1.6%, to 2,217.

Jindal Steel has dropped 1.5% to rs 649.

Banking stocks are in red. ICICI Bank has dropped 1% to Rs 875. HDFC Bank has slipped 1% to Rs 1,982. SBI is marginally down at Rs 2,347.

HDFC, Infosys and Hindustan Unilever have declined 1% each to Rs 2,985, Rs 2,791 and Rs 269, respectively.

Sterlite, ACC, Tata Motors, Tata Steel have shed around 1% each.

However, Reliance Communications has gained in opening trades and is now up 1.5% at Rs 191.

Cipla, Reliance Infrastructure and ONGC have added 0.6% each to Rs 342, Rs 1,169 and Rs 1,195, respectively.