Markets opened with bad news

Major Indices suffered a sharp and swift downslide in early deals on Monday as institutional traders took advantage of Friday's 2 percent gain to press the button on short sales again. PSU Banks bucked the trend after the government's recapitalisation last week.

The Nifty dropped 70 points to 8,449 in early deals on Monday, after briefly trading in the green. The Advance-Decline Ratio fell to 5/45 with Cipla, Zee Entertainment, Vedanta, ONGC and Hindalco showing the sharpest losses on the Index.

PSU Banks led the gainers with Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, BPCL and Asian Paints taking the top five slots on the Nifty, where Bank of Baroda was the top traded counter with 238 crore rupees of shares already changing hands.

All major indices drifted lower in trade. The CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500, CNX Nifty Junior, the mid cap and small cap indices fell between 0.5-1.1 percent in the first half hour of trade on the NSE. The Bank Nifty dropped 62 points to 18,662. CNX Realty and CNX Media Indices were the top losers, shaving off a major chunk of their gains collected on Friday.

The sectoral space, too, was awash in red: Losses ranged between 0.8-2.3 percent.

And on the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex plunged 300 points at 27,768 in initial trades. As a consequence, the Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 2/28. Tata Motors, GAIL, Reliance Industries, BHEL and HDFC were the top losers on the Index where the only two gainers were Coal India and SBI. HDFC was the top traded counter on the Sensex.

The Futures and Options market was in a bear grip with an Advance-Decline ratio of 31/129. PSU banks were the five top gainers in the derivatives space. On the losing side were Cipla, Unitech, Amtek Auto and Kaveri Seeds.

The broader market saw bears displacing the bulls yet again. The Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 632 versus 1,011 shares that fell.

Amara Raja Batteries, Ceat and IPCA hit fresh highs on the NSE and Gujarat Pipavav Ports, Gitanjali Gems, BoB and Punj Lloyd made it to the volume buzzers list on the Exchange.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)