Markets in red on profit booking, weak Asian cues

Mumbai: Markets have retreated in early trade after Tuesdays strong rally as profit booking is seen in banking, capital goods, power, oil, metal, realty, auto and technology stocks. Fall in Asian markets also fuelled to negative sentiments.

At 0956 hrs IST, the Sensex declined 200 points to 14,849 and Nifty fell 55 points to 4,448. CNX Midcap lost 0.62 per cent to 5,797. Market breadth is negative; nearly 89 shares advanced while 250 shares declined.

Amongst frontliners, L&T, SBI, DLF, Sterlite Industries, ICICI Bank, Suzlon Energy, Reliance Infrastructure, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Ranbaxy Labs, TCS, Infosys, M&M and ITC have lost ground.

Ranbaxy Labs continued to remain under pressure, fell nearly four per cent as Thursday is the last day of open offer. LIC and GIC offered all their shares in Ranbaxy open offer, which hold 16.4 per cent stake in the company.

On the primary market front, Austral Coke went up 52 per cent to Rs 297 as against issue price of Rs 196.

Asian markets were trading weak. Nikkei tumbled 0.9 per cent, Straits Times -2 per cent, Taiwan Weighted -2.45, Kospi -0.28 per cent, Shanghai -0.7 per cent, Hang Seng -0.9 per cent and Jakarta Composite -2 per cent.

Nymex Crude settled below $110 a barrel, which is below 200 DMA on Wednesday. It is trading at 109.7 a barrel on the NYMEX.

Major refineries and platforms reported no damage from Hurricane Gustav. Tropical Storm Hanna is forecasted to take path away from Gulf of Mexico.

In US markets, economic jitters dampened street enthusiasm for stock buying, fizzling out the post-Gustav enthusiasm.

All indices, in fact, remained negative though out Wednesday but the Dow tip toed over the line at the last minute eking out a gain of 16 points. The Dow Jones gained 15.96 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 11,532.88.

The S&P 500 index declined 2.60 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 1,274.98, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 15.51 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 2,333.73.

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