Markets Live: Nifty opens weak; Rupee breaches 53 mark in opening bell

The Indian market opens lower in trade on weak Asian stocks. Weak economic data from the US and the eurozone weighed down on investor sentiment yesterday, pushing major key indices across the globe into the red.

The Sensex was down 96.73 points or 0.56% at 17205.18, and the Nifty was down 31.65 points or 0.60% at 5207.50. About 464 shares advanced, 625 shares declined, and 2330 shares remain unchanged.

Top gainers on the Nifty were BHEL, Cipla, SAIL, Wipro and HUL. Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank, Jaiprakash Asso, Bajaj Auto and Siemens were top losers.

Auto, metal and realty stocks were on seller's radar today. Top two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp 's fourth quarter net profit rose 20% year-on-year to Rs 604 crore, helped by highest ever sales in the quarter.

The company also announced it is raising product prices by Rs 500-1,000 effective Wednesday to offset rising input costs. The stock was down 5% on profit booking.

The RBI has ordered a new set of rules governing how much capital banks have to keep. The new rules will start applying from January 2013 in phases and will finally become fully applicable by 2018. Banking stocks were marginally bleeding in red post announcement.

Rupee Outlook

The Indian rupee opens at 53.09 per dollar versus 52.95 yesterday. Ssharad D Pawaar, SPFX INDIA said, "The rupee is expected to continue its slide against the dollar. Weak global equity market cues are likely to weigh on the currency. The range for the day is seen between 52.90-53.15/USD." Keep an eye on IT, OMC stocks.

Cement cos in focus

Cement manufacturers ACC and Ambuja Cement (ACL) reported a growth in production at 2.17 million tonne (MT) and 1.91 million tonne, respectively in the month of April.

How to play Nifty?

"The Nifty has broken a three-day upmove and closed in the negative territory on Wednesday as a weak rupee and lack of buying support among investors Technically the short term trend on NIFTY is likely to remain weak and if NIFTY closes below its key support level of 5170 on weekly basis, short term traders are advised to go short for the target of 5135 and 5070 with keeping stop loss of 5235." says IFCI Financial Services technical report.

Results to Watch

Result candidates from the broader market space today are Info Edge, Nitco, Universal Cables, Balaji Amines, D-Link, Maral Overseas and Blue Star Infotech.

ADP report spooks US markets

The US markets recovered from an early decline to end narrowly mixed, but worries over the weak ADP employment report kept investors on edge ahead of Friday's key jobs data.

Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.08% or 10.75 points at 13268.57. Nasdaq Composite was up 0.31% or 9.41 points at 3059.85. Standard & Poor's 500 was down 0.25% or 3.51 points at 1402.31.

Cues to gaze at

Spanish and Italian debt sales
ECB Interest Rate Meeting

F&O cues:
Total Puts adds 20 lakh shares, Total Calls adds 24 lakh shares
5600 call, 5100 put and 5400 call have the Highest OI Build up
5600 call adds 3.5 lakh (8%) shares in OI prem down 20%
5100 put adds 1.4 lakh (3%) shares in OI prem up 4.5%
5400 call adds 4.3 lakh (10%) shares in OI prem down 15%
5200 put adds 6.9 lakh (17.5%) shares in OI prem up 7%
5300 call adds 6 lakh (18%) shares in OI prem down 12%
5500 call adds 2.4 lakh (7%) shares in OI prem down 18%
Total Nifty Futures shed 1.3 lakh shares in OI
Stock Futures adds 2.02 cr shares in OI
Nifty PCR fell to 1.1 from 1.12
Nifty May Futures are trading at 7.8 points premium v/s 19.7 points premium to Spot
India VIX closed at 18.54 up by 4.04%