Here's how the Markets opened today

Bears remained in control of Dalal Street for the fourth day in a row on Thursday as traders remained sellers mainly on the private sector banking space as also on the cement, power and capital goods sectors. Axis Bank, post lacklustre second quarter earnings, was the top loser on the indices.

The Nifty fell 27 points to trade at 8,145 in the first hour of trade with BHEL, Ambuja Cement, IndusInd Bank and BPCL being the top losers along with Axis Bank. Buying was observed in defensives such as Dr. Reddy's, Cipla and Lupin as also in Cairn and Vedanta. The Nifty saw 20 shares gaining compared with 30 that slipped.

Axis, Dr. Reddy's and Just Dial were the top traded stocks along with JP Associates, Suzlon and Unitech on the National Stock Exchange.

Broader markets were mostly weak with CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500 lost at least 0.2 percent each. Bit gains, however, were seen on the mid cap and the small cap space. The space for sectoral indices was mixed with the FMCG benchmark dipping 1 percent while indices tracking the realty, auto, energy, pharma and metals space inching up.

The Sensex remained weak as well, dropping 46 points to 26,993 levels. TCS, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma and GAIL were among losers while HDFC, Bajaj Auto and Tata Steel showed traction. The Sensex had an advance-decline ratio of 13/17 and Axis Bank, Larsen and Dr. Reddy's were the top traded counters.

Broader markets, however, were dominated by the bulls with 1,152 shares gaining compared with 703 that fell.

The futures market saw nearly 65 percent of the rollovers being completed on the last day of the monthly expiry and strong buying was seen on infrastructure and fertiliser futures. UCO Bank, Oil India and SKS Micro futures were top on the gainers list while Just Dial, post earnings, Power Finance Corp and CESC futures dropped in trade.

Mphasis and Heritage Foods hit fresh highs while J&K Bank dropped to a new low on the National Stock Exchange.

Image credit: Indiatimes