Morning Bell !!......The Sensex opened 70 points down following weak Asian cues, reacting to the spate of downgrades in nine eurozone countries by rating agency S&P last weekend

Indian Markets

Indian frontline indices fell marginally in the opening deals, tracking a broadbased decline in Asian markets after the Standard & Poor's downgrade as many as nine Eurozone nations, raising fears over the region's long-running debt crisis and its implications for the global economy.

IT, Teck, FMCG indices are the gainers. Power, PSU, HC,Auto, Oil and Gas, Realty, Bankex, Metal indices are the losers.

Wipro, Bharti Airtel, TCS, Infosys, Maruti Suzki, were among the notable leaders in the Sensex and the Nifty.

RIL, ICICI Bank, Coal India, Ranbaxy, L&T, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, Tata Steel,Hero MotoCorp, HDFC were among the notable losers in the Sensex and the Nifty.

US and European Markets

U.S. stocks finished in the red Friday as anxious investors braced for a string of credit rating downgrades for eurozone countries. JPMorgan Chase's disappointing fourth-quarter earnings also weighed on the market. Dow Jones dropped 49 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 fell 6 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq composite lost 14 points, or 0.5%.

European stocks closed slightly lower, amid downgrade concerns. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, DAX in Germany dropped 0.6% and France's CAC 40 shed 0.1%. Standard & Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro area governments, including AAA-rated France and Austria.

Asian Markets

Today the Asian indices are trading in the red with Nikkei and Kospi trading lower by 1.5% each while Strait Times is down 1.1%. Hang Seng and Taiwan are down by 1% each while Shanghai is down 0.8%. SGX Nifty is trading lower by 46 points.

Currencies

The Indian rupee surged to a near six-week high against the U.S. dollar Friday but gave up most of the gains in late trade on aggressive dollar buying by oil importers and as the euro weakened after an underwhelming Italian debt auction. Rupee ended 5 paise or 0.1% higher against US Dollar to Rs.51.52.

Key events to watch for today

China GDP

India Monthly WPI

Outlook

Today, the Indian market is likely to open on a negative note following weak Asian cues. Later it could take cues from the monthly inflation data to be announced today. Among the sectoral indices, Banking, Auto and Realty stocks could underperform while Healthcare and FMCG could do well.

Sources- hdfcsec, india infoline