Markets open in the red; Maruti, Tata Power dip

Updated: Friday, July 20, 2012, 9:27 [IST]

Markets opened the day lower on the back of profit booking and weak Asian cues. The BSE Sensex was trading lower by 33 points at 17245 points, while the Nifty was trading lower by 12 points at 9.25 am IST.

Maruti continued to slide lower on worries of a prolonged strike at its Manesar plant. The stock which dropped almost 8% yesterday, was down another 1.55% in trade today. Dr Reddy's and Hero Motorcorp were other stocks that lost ground today.

Bhel rallied once again today following the government's decision to impose a 21% import duty on power equipment. The stock had been ruling firm over the last few trading sessions on reports of the import duty.

Stocks in the US and Europe closed higher for a third-straight session with the S&P hitting levels that were previously seen only in the month of May. In Asia the Japanese Nikkei, Singapore's Strait Times, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted and the Chinese Shanghai Composite were all trading lower.

Markets are likely to be rangebound and are awaiting reform measures, now that the Presidential elections have been completed.

GoodReturns.in