Sensex down 190 points in opening trade on profit-booking

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex declined by over 190 points in opening trade on Monday as funds and retail investors locked in gains recorded in the past few sessions amid a weakening trend overseas.
    
The 30-share Sensex, which had gained over 972 points in the previous three sessions, fell by 190.03 points, or 1.13 percent, to 16,631.07 in opening trade today.
   
All the sectoral indices were trading in the negative zone with losses of up to 1.73 percent.
    
In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index shed 60.15, or 1.19 percent, to 4,979.85.
    
Brokers said besides profit-booking by funds and retail investors after handsome gains were recorded in the previous three sessions, a weakening trend on other Asian bourses on renewed fears of a recession in the US and sustained worries about the euro zone debt crisis also dampened the trading sentiment here.
    
In the Asian region, the Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 2.22 percent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 1.69 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US ended 2.20 percent lower in the previous session on Friday.

BSE: Sensex pares early trade losses

Asian shares extended their spiral descent in early trade, with banks taking a big hit following the massive sell-off in the US equity market yesterday, further undermining the already-fragile investor confidence.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer resumed lower at 16,517.87 and hovered in a range between 16,741.90 and 16,432.00 before quoting at 16,731.25 at 1015 hours, showing a net loss of 258.93 points, or 1.52 per cent, from its last close.

The BSE benchmark Sensex crawled up a bit, recouping some of its intra-day losses. However, the market was still trading more than 200 points lower.

The NSE's 50-share Nifty index also moved down by 81.95 points, or 1.60 per cent, to 5,036.55 at 1015 hours.

FIIs sold shares worth a massive Rs 1,385.78 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The major losers in early trade were TCS (down 4.38 per cent), Tata Motors (3.84 per cent), Wipro (3.81 per cent), Sunpharma (3.60 per cent), Infosys (3.24 per cent) and Tata Steel (2.93 per cent).

The key benchmark indices in South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Japan were down by between 1.15 per cent and 5.92 per cent.

US stocks tumbled yesterday, dragging the benchmark indices to their biggest loss since December, 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked 5.55 per cent, or 634.76 points; the Nasdaq Composite fell by 6.9 per cent, or 174.72 points; and the Standard & Poor's 500 declined by 6.66 per cent, or 79.92 points.

India has been one of the fastest growing economies in the region over the past few years, and it is expected to grow by close to 8% this year.

While India has been expanding, developed economies such as the US and Europe are still struggling to fully recover from the effects of the global financial crisis.

They have also been hit by newer developments such as the debt issues in the eurozone.

Indian stocks Market :BSE Sensex: Nifty

The Indian stocks continue to be under tremendous selling pressure in late morning trade, as investors continue to flee risky assets like equities and commodities in the wake of the S&P's decision to downgrade US' "AAA" rating by one notch.

All the sectoral indices were in the red and the benchmarks slipped to crucial support levels."The S&P on Friday downgraded the long-term debt rating of the US from AAA to AA+ and continued with its negative outlook. This could lead to some immediate turbulence in financial markets, however, investors are likely to focus on 'relative' ratings in their investment decisions.

The BSE Sensex is down more than 450 points while the NSE Nifty remains below the 5,100 mark.

The BSE Sensex was trading at 16,848, down 457 points or 2.65% over the last close. It had touched the day's high at 16,907 and day's low at 16,759 with the opening of Rs. 16,907.

The NSE Nifty on the other hand was quoting 5,075, down 135 points or 2.61% after touching a high of 5,096 and a low of 5,054.

The IT index on the BSE is down more than 5% amid concerns that a weakening economic landscape in the US and Europe will hit their earnings, which are closely  linked to these markets.

The ADAG pack is also being pummeled out of shape, led by heavy losses in Reliance Power, RCOM, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance  Capital after the BSE removed RCOM and Reliance Infra from the Sensex effective today.