Indian markets drift lower in early trade on weak global cues

The Indian equity markets have made a soft start with Sensex tumbling below its crucial 15,750 mark on the back of weak global cues. The US markets closed mixed on Friday, though the domestic economic reports remained good but the European jitters once again weighed on the mood of the investors after ratings were cut for one of the country in the region and the borrowing cost increased in other, while, most of the Asian peers were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time, indicating somber investors’ sentiment. On the domestic side, somberness is likely to persist as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while admitting that the country was going through difficult times has cut the nation's growth rate down to 7% in the current fiscal from 8.5% last year. On the sectoral front, software and technology remained the only gainers while, metal, capital goods and banking witnessed the most selling pressure, dragging down the Sensex. However, the broader indices too were struggling to get some traction.

The BSE Sensex opened at 15,840.22; about 27 points lower compared to its previous closing of 15,867.73, and has touched a high and a low of 15,841.40 and 15,678.30 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 15,730.56 down by 118.24 points or 0.75%. There were just 2 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start. The broader indices too were trading in the red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices declined by 0.31% and 0.06% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.67% and TECk was up by 0.15%. While, Metal down by 1.38%, CG down by 1.37%, Bankex down by 1.00%, Realty down by 0.98% and CD down by 0.88% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 0.65% and Infosys up by 0.62%.

On the flip side, L&T was down by 2.79%, Jindal Steel was down by 2.75%, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.60%, Hindalco was down by 2.08% and SBI was down by 1.92% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, exports of Indian tea surged to 17.47 million kg in the month of November, registering a growth of 13.4 percent from 15.41 million kg in the same month of last year. Falling demand for Indian tea in the world market, which is facing tough competition from Sri Lanka and Kenya has had its share of impact on the growth of India’s tea exports.

With competitors like China, Kenya and Sri Lanka have going ahead of India in exports of tea, Indian tea exporters are facing tough times. Meanwhile, according to the data released by the state-run Tea Board, production of tea has slowed to 3.8 percent to 90.3 million kg in the month under review, as apart from the slowdown in exports weather also played havoc this season. Unfavorable and fluctuating weather conditions remained another reason for the decline in growth of tea production.

India, the world's largest producer of tea after China, faces stiff competition from Sri Lanka and Indonesia in the traditional tea market, and in green tea from China, while Kenya and other African countries vie for the CTC export market.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,747.55; about 7 points lower compared to its previous closing of 4,754.10, and has touched a high and a low of 4,747.55 and 4,695.45 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 4,711.05, lower by 35.85 points or 0.76%. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were RPower up by 1.22%, Siemens up by 1.15%, Tata Power up by 1.14%, Infosys up by 0.74% and TCS up by 0.28%.

On the flip side, L&T was down by 3.02%, Jindal Steel was down by 2.99%, RCom was down by 2.88%, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.45% and Reliance Infra was down by 2.24% were the top losers on the Nifty.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Hang Seng was down 170.83 points or 0.92% to 18,422.23, Jakarta Composite was down 14.81 points or 0.38% to 3,854.60, Straits Times was down 25.58 points or 0.94% to 2,690.01, Seoul Composite was down 21.67 points or 1.18% to 1,821.47 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 46.54 points or 0.65% to 7,073.97.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up 31.17 points or 1.44% to 2,194.57.

The stock markets in Japan remained closed on Monday in observance of a public holiday.