Nifty hovering around 8600 levels ahead of Union Budget

As major indices continue to slide down after opening in red, taking cues from global markets, Power stocks gain. Power Grid and ONGC are the top BSE Power index gainers, with Power Grid contributing 53% to the index gains.
 
Benchmark Sensex is sliding by 135 points and NSE Nifty slipping below 8600 levels ahead of the Economic Survey due later this day.
 
At 11 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,743.02 down 106.54 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8589.85 down 42.90 points. A total of 28 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while 11 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.
 
The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.30% at 12962.11, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading down 0.33% at 13026.08.
 
Some buying activity is seen in FMCG, Telecom, Utilities, and Power indices while Industrials, Automobile, IT, Bankex, Consumer Goods, Consumer Durables indices are showing weakness on BSE.
 
Idea, Tata Power, ONGC, Bharti Airtel and Power Grid are among the gainers, whereas Infratel, Grasim, Gail, Coal India, Infosys and HCL Tech are losing sheen on NSE in the first trading hour.
 
The INDIA VIX is up 1.26% at 16.88.

Markets opened down ahead of budget day

At 9:15 AM, the BSE Sensex opened higher by 18.36 points at 27867.92, while the Nifty50 opened lower by 3.3 points at the 8629.45 mark.
 
There are 12 advances and 38 declines and 1 unchanged stock at the opening bell on Tuesday.
 
The rupee opened at 67.84 per dollar up by 11 paise.
 
The European markets ended the first session of the new trading week firmly in red. Market participants were concerned after US President Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on the entry of refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries over the weekend. The DAX of Germany plunged 1.12% to close at 11681.89 levels and the CAC 40 of France fell 1.14% to close at 4784.64. The FTSE of the UK declined by 0.92% to close at 7118.48.  
 
The US stocks posted their biggest decline for 2017. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the psychological 20,000 mark, dropping 123 points to end at 19,970 and the S&P 500 shed 13 points to close at 2,280. The Nasdaq Composite Index skidded 47 points to finish at 5,613.
 
The Asian markets are trading in a negative territory on Tuesday, tracking a sell-off in the US stocks overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 trading lower by 257.94 points at 19110.91. 
 
The SGX Nifty index is trading lower by 17 points at 8637, indicating a flat to negative start for the Indian markets. Market participants will be keenly awaiting the Economic Survey that will be tabled in the Parliament today.