Indian stock markets opened negatively on the back of weak global signals ahead of F&O expiry for the month of February.

Fall
in the US markets and a weak start to equity markets across Asia also
added to the pessimism witnessed in early trade today.

Heavy
selling action was seen across all sectoral indices. Bankex (-3.49%),
IT (- 2.69%) and Metal (-2.67%) were among the worst hit sectors.

Broader indices like BSE Midcap and Smallcap were also trading weak by 1.64% and 1.66% respectively.

The
30-share index, BSE Sensex, today (Feb 24) opened at 8,707.35 after
losing 135.86 points, as compared to its last closure in which it lost
199.42 points (2.21%).

At 10.04 a.m., the 30-share index Sensex
was trading down 171.35 points (1.94%) at 8,671.86. It also touched a
high of 8,707.35 and a low of 8,663.81. At the same time, the broad
based Nifty lost 44.45 points at 2,692.00 after hitting a high of
2,737.90 and a low of 2,686.30.

The overall breadth of the market was negative with 232 stocks posted gains, 760 declined while 52 remained unchanged.

Hindustan Unilever was the only gainer in the Sensex. The stock gained 0.40%.

On
the other hand, the major losers in the Sensex were DLF (-4.61%), ICICI
Bank (-3.88%), Reliance Energy (-3.82%), Jaiprakash Associates
(-3.73%), HDFC Bank (-3.44%) and Sterlite Industries (India) (-3.38%).

Meanwhile,
Asian stocks were also trading down because of worldwide depression
hurt corporate earnings and the forced share sales to bolster balance
sheets.

Japanese benchmark index Nikkei lost 155.05 points (2.10%) to trade at 7,221.11.

Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng index lost more than 3% to trade at 12,707.10, while
South Korea’s Kospi index slipped over 3% to 1,064.84.

European
stocks marked their closure on a negative note, as investors speculated
measures to support the economy would not be enough to prevent
deepening of worldwide recession.

UK’s benchmark index FTSE 100 dropped 38.33 points to end at 3,850.73.

French benchmark index CAC 40 was down by 22.68 points (0.82%) to end at 2,727.87.

Germany’s benchmark index DAX lost 78.21 points to close at 3,936.45.