Sensex opens 130 points down but holds 40,100-level

New Delhi: Markets opened on a negative note on Tuesday though both Sensex and Nifty held on to  40,100 level and 12,000 mark amid weak global cues.

Minutes into opening, however, markets came off their opening low. The BSE Sensex was trading down by 15.08 points or 0.037 percent to 40,252.54 while the NSE Nifty was trading 7.65 points or 0.063 percent down at  12,080.90.

Top losers in the Sensex pack include HCL Tech, TCS, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, HUL and Maruti, shedding up to 2 percent. On the other hand, Yes Bank, NTPC, PowerGrid, L&T, Tata Motors and ITC were among the top gainers, rising up to 2.64 percent.

Investors are also awaiting Reserve Bank of India's second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy policy decision, scheduled for Thursday. The RBI had cut the short-term lending rate (repo rate) by 25 basis points each in its last two policy reviews.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought equity worth Rs 3,068.88 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares to the tune of Rs 462.69 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Yesterday the 30-share index zoomed over 553.42 points or 1.39 percent to hit its lifetime closing peak of 40,267.62. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty closed above 12,000 mark for the first time. The index spurted over 165.75 points or 1.39 percent to 12,088.55.

Led by the sharp rally in the equity market, the market capitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listed companies surged Rs 1,76,402.37 crore to Rs 1,56,14,416.92 crore, making the investors richer by Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday as MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3%, after earlier rising as much as 0.18%, a Reuters report said. The broad index was pulled lower by Chinese shares. China`s blue-chip CSI300 index was 1.17% lower, and the Hang Seng lost 0.65%. Seoul`s Kospi gave up 0.16%. Japan`s Nikkei gave up early gains to turn down 0.42%.

With Agency Inputs