Markets slip in opening trades, NBCC IPO opens today

The markets have opened on a cautious note after the short covering seen yesterday. The Sensex is down 77 points at 17,525. Nifty is down 26 points at 5,338. Overnight, the US markets ended on a flat note. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 per cent to 13,125 levels, while the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.2 per cent to 1,403. Asian shares inched up on Thursday but remained range-bound as investors waited for manufacturing data from China and the euro-zone due this session for more clues about the state of their economies. The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index was up 0.1 per cent while Japan's Nikkei average opened down 0.3 per cent. BSE IT index has slipped after Wednesday's smart run. The index is down 0.6% at 6,048. Metal and realty share ar also showing some weakness in early morning trades. However, BSE auto index has gained 0.5% at 10,158. Jindal Steel has dipped 4% to Rs 565. Tata Steel has dropped 1% at Rs 468. Maruti Suzuki, Infosys and DLF have slipped around 1% each in trades. TCS, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank are also in red. Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Mahinda & Mahindra have added 1% each in trades. Sun PHarma. Coal India and ITC are up marginally in trades as well. Among individual stocks, Punjab National Bank has secured shareholders’ approval for raising capital up to Rs 2,875 crore by preferential issue of share to government and LIC. Shares on Punjab National Bank, however, has erased morning gains and is trading at Rs 973. The Unitech Group has agreed in principle to sell its stake in Uninor to joint venture partner Telenor at a fair value. The stock has slipped 0.5% at Rs 30. Promoters of Godrej Properties have decided to test the institutional placement programme route to sell a 10.6 per cent stake in the company at a price between Rs 575-620 per share. The stock is down 1% at Rs 633. JSW Steel has informed that one of its promoters, JSW Investments, has raised stake in the company to 3.67 per cent by acquiring additional shares for Rs 2 crore. The stock is down 2% at Rs 763. Foreign fund house Copthall Mauritius Investments has bought 16 million shares of LIC Housing Finance from the open market for about Rs 410 crore. LIC HOusing Finance has dropped 1.2% at Rs 266. BSE market breadth is marginally positive. Out of 1,485 shares traded, 813 shares have advanced while 608 shares have delcined.