SOFT START

The Indian equity markets have made a soft start tracking weak global cues. The US markets suffered sharp fall overnight and major indices erased nearly all of their gains for the year. All the Asian counterparts were trading in the red at this point of time triggered by worsening nuclear crisis in Japan, indicating somber investors' sentiments. Back home, sustained selling in key heavyweights keeping the momentum on the negative side ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review later today. On the sectoral front, consumer durables, banking and public sector undertaking were the top gainers in trade; on the other hand software, technology and fast moving consumer goods were the major losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. However, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 853 shares on the gaining side against 705 shares on the losing side while 81 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,227.16; about 130 points lower compared to its previous closing of 18,358.69, and has touched a high and a low of 18,327.45 and 18,209.05, respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,292.64, down by 66.05 points or 0.36%. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth started in the positive terrain, with 52.04% stocks advancing against 43.01% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.29% and 0.30%, respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 0.70%, Bankex up by 0.41%, CG up by 0.08% and PSU was up by 0.06%. While, IT down by 1.13%, TECk down by 0.86%, FMCG down by 0.61%, Realty down by 0.51% and Auto down by 0.45%, were the major losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Communication up by 2.96%, HDFC Bank up by 1.84%, SBI up by 0.77%, Cipla up by 0.49% and Bajaj Auto was up by 0.35%.

Maruti Suzuki down by 2.27%, HDFC down by 1.73%, Infosys down by 1.73%, Hindalco down by 0.91% and ITC down by 0.76% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India is also going to feel the after effects of Japan's earthquake and tsunami which has led to loss of thousands of lives and has caused havoc for Japan's economy. India's exporters are still elusive about further trade as some of the buyers have sought at least a week's time to respond to queries on orders already placed, while some exporters couldn't even get in touch with their buyers as a lot of establishments were shut because of lack of electricity.

Though the impact may not be much as Japan accounts only 2% of total exports of India, but the export of diamonds and jewellery will be majorly impacted as Japan is one of the major buyers of a specific small variety of diamonds from India. These small precious stones are used in watches and accessories besides jewellery. According to industry estimates, of the total exports of small diamonds worldwide, nearly 25% go to Japan. Further, export of iron ore, animal protein and seafood are also expected to be impacted as most of the ports are shut down in the island country. But the disruption is expected to be temporary and once th

e world's third-largest economy starts rebuilding its homes, factories and cities, traders are expecting demand for everything from metals and coal to timber, rubber, food and animal feed to zoom, which will create a huge market for Indian exporters seeking an alternative to Chinese demand. Exports of finished steel to Japan will rise in the coming months as the Asian nation goes for revival and according to economists estimates damages from the earthquake could run as high as 10 trillion yen and could knock three percentage points off Japan's gross domestic product growth this year.

Meanwhile, India for the purpose of safeguarding the health of its own people will be keeping a close watch on food items imported from the island nation, since the earthquake has resulted in lots of leakages in nuclear reactors. "We are currently watching the situation as a part of the surveillance, though we have not taken a call yet to ban any of the food items," Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) chairman P I Suvarathan said. Though India does not import any of the primary food items from Japan, processed foods, sea food, oil seeds and seeds of vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage come from there along with citrus fruits along with dairy products, confectionery items and tobacco products.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,455.40; about 51 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,511.15, and has touched a touched a high and a low of 5,501.35 and 5,453.90, respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,492.05, down by 19.10 points or 0.35%. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were RCom up by 2.91%, Ambuja up by 2.08%, HDFC Bank up by 1.86%, Reliance Capital up by 1.20% and SBI up by 0.84%.

The top losers of the index were Maruti Suzuki down by 1.99%, Infosys down by 1.65%, HDFC down by 1.37%, GAIL down by 1.14% and Hindalco was down by 1.01%.

All the Asian markets were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 14.83 points or 0.51% to 2,915.98, Hang Seng was down 406.57 points or 1.79% to 22,294.31, Jakarta Composite was down 52.42 points or 1.48% to 3,479.06, KLSE Composite was down 5.22 points or 0.35% to 1,487.22, Nikkei 225 was down 164.40 points or 1.81% to 8,929.32, Straits Times was down 31.67 points or 1.07% to 2,939.33, Seoul Composite was down 11.93 points or 0.61% to 1,946.04 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 59.77 points or 0.72% to 8,264.81.