Markets open lower, turn choppy in opening trade

Mumbai: Markets have opened lower but immediately turned into choppy mode as it is reacting to mixed global cues. Buying is seen in cement, technology and some metal and realty stocks while selling seen in banking and some oil & gas stocks.

Market breadth is also undecided, 358 shares advanced while 403 shares declined. Midcap and small cap stocks were trading flat.

At 0956 hrs IST, the Sensex was up 40 points at 16792 and the Nifty up 7 points at 4965.

Losers were ACC, Ambuja Cements, BHEL, HDFC Bank, SBI, ITC, JP Associates, L&T, ONGC while gainers - Bharti, DLF, Grasim, Hindalco, HDFC, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam and Tata Motors.

MphasiS rose four per cent in early trade as HP agreed to buy EDS for $13.90 billion and that deal to be completed in second half of 2008. EDS holds 60.9 per cent in Indian firm MphasiS.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Shanghai Composite was up 1.78 per cent or 63.41 points at 3,623.65. Jakarta Composite rose 22.35 points or 0.92 per cent at 2,441.25. Taiwan Weighted gained 23 points or 0.26 per cent at 9,012.53.

However, Hang Seng was down 1.54 per cent or 392.52 points at 25,160.25. Nikkei 225 Average lost 2.23 points or 0.02 per cent at 13,951.50. Straits Times fell 14.12 points or 0.44 per cent at 3,189.30. Seoul Composite was down 9.33 points or 0.51 per cent at 1,833.47.

US markets closed mixed as investors juggled a mixed bag of news. A tepid outlook from Yahoo, HP's bid for EDS and a surprising resilience in retail sales led to mixed reactions.

The Dow Jones ended 44 points lower at 12832, the Nasdaq however shut shop at 2495, up 7 points.

Market cues:

• FIIs net sell $31.1 m in equity on May 12
• Domestic MFs net sell Rs 65.3 cr in equity on May 12
• NSE F&O Open Interest up Rs 1,373 cr at Rs 73,206 crore

F&O cues:

• Futures Open Interest up Rs 106 crore
• Options Open Interest up Rs 1,267 crore
• Nifty Futures add 12 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Open Interest PCR at 1.43 Vs 1.46
• Nifty Puts add 10 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Calls add 11.6 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty 4900 Put adds 3 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty 4800 Put adds 2.5 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty 5000 Put adds 2.3 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty 5000 Call adds 5.8 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty 5100 Call adds 2.6 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Stock Futures shed 1.5 cr shares in Open Interest