Markets open with gap down, then recover

Mumbai: The markets have recovered from the early low's but are still trading in red with significant cuts. Technology, realty, banking stocks are still struggling to find its feet. Oil & gas, FMCG, consumer durables and pharma indices are trading with modest gains.

At 1029 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 138.36 points or 0.78 per cent at 17628.27, and the Nifty down 8.20 points or 0.16 per cent at 5193.80. About 1263 shares have advanced, 1677 shares declined, and 79 shares are unchanged

Top gainers on the Sensex are Bajaj Auto at Rs 2,143.90 up 3.30 per cent, ONGC at Rs 1,038 up 1.20 per cent and Hindalco at Rs 165.20 up 0.89 per cent. Top losers on the Sensex are DLF at Rs 844.25 down 2.38 per cent, Larsen & Toubro at Rs 3,424.95 down 2.34 per cent and Infosys at Rs 1,517 down 1.96 per cent.

Top gainers on the Nifty are Bajaj Auto at Rs 2,117 up 1.91 per cent, NALCO at Rs 357 up 1.85 per cent and BPCL at Rs 473.80 up 1.72 per cent. Top losers on the Nifty are Unitech at Rs 374.40 down 4.29%, Suzlon Energy at Rs 329 down 2.78 per cent and Infosys at Rs 1,511 down 2.31 per cent.

Earlier in the morning, the markets opened on weak note in line with its global peers. Asian markets are trading weak on renewed credit concerns following weak cues from the US markets. Technology, realty, power and metal stocks opened with significant cuts today.

At 0956 hours, Sensex was down 253 points at 17512 and Nifty was down 83 points at 5118. Major losers in the opening trade were ACC, Reliance Petroleum, Rel Comm, Satyam, ITC, Unitech, Infosys and Grasim.

Other Asian markets were also trading weak. Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 1.98 per cent or 475.15 points at 23,546.53. Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.49 per cent or 202.52 points at 13,423.93.

Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was down 0.25 per cent or 19.96 points at 7,845.32. South Korea's Seoul Composite fell 0.95 per cent or 16.07 points at 1,681.38. Singapore's Straits Times dropped 0.22 per cent or 6.79 points at 3,038.80.

US markets: The Dow plunged 175.26 points, or 1.40 per cent, to 12,376.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 18.35 points, or 1.34 per cent, to 1,348.86, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 41.39 points, or 1.74 per cent, to 2,332.54.

Market cues:

> FIIs net buy $86.5 million in equity

> MFs net buy Rs 7.7 crore in equity

> NSE F&O Open Interest up by Rs 3,937 crore at Rs 71,217 crore