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Markets extended losess in morning trades with the Sensex down 83 points at 22,605 and the Nifty hovered around the 6,750 with a 29 point cut at 1030 hrs.
Weakness in financials, L&T and Tata Motors weighed on the indices.
In other stocks, UPL surged 9% to Rs 252 after reporting a robust 28% year-on-year growth in adjusted consolidated net profit at Rs 405 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4FY2014), mainly due to higher operational income and lower employee costs. The agrochemicals maker had reported profit of Rs 317 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Deepak Nitrite was locked at the upper circuit of 20% at Rs 549, also its record high on the NSE, after the company said its board will meet on May 2, 2014 to consider issue of maiden bonus shares.
Fulford India is locked at the upper circuit of 20% at Rs 823 after the company said it has received a letter from Dashtag, the promoter of the company, expressing his intention to make a voluntary delisting offer to the public shareholders of the company.
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(Updated at 1030 hrs)
Markets had a flat start with a negative bias. The Sensex was down 31 points at 22,657 and the Nifty slipped 16 points at 6,766 in opening trades. Maruti Suzuki, HDFC and ONGC were the ones leading losses in opening trades.
Meanwhile, the broader markets started in positive territory with both the mid and smallcap indices adding 0.3% each.
Asian markets were trading lower as investors turned cautious tracking weakness on Wall Street last week and the escalating tensions in Ukraine.
The Nikkei was down 1.2%, Shanghai Composite was down 1% while Hang Seng was down 0.5% and Straits Times was down 0.3%.
Stocks on Wall Street ended lower on Friday amid weak corporate earnings while the emerging crisis in Ukraine also weighed on investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones ended down 140 points at 16,361.46, the broader S&P 500 lost 15 points at 1,863.40 and the tech laden Nasdaq ended down 73 points at 4,075.56.
Sectors & Stocks
Auto and banking index down 0.5% and 0.3% respectively were the only sectoral indices in red. Power index was flat with a negative bias.
Health Care, IT, Consumer Durables, Metal and Capital Goods indices up 0.2-0.7% were among the gainers in the opening hour.
Gail India, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Tata Motors and HDFC down 1-2% were the major losers.
HDFC, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank down 0.5-0.8% were the other notable names in red.
Sesa Sterlite, Tata Power and Dr Reddys Lab up 1% each were the top gainers.
Wipro, TCS, Tata Steel, Cipla and L&T up 0.7-0.9% were some of the other stocks in green.
The market breadth was positive owing to the gains in broader market. 786 stocks advanced while 533 stocks declined on BSE.
