Stock markets bearish amid derivatives expiry and weak Asian cues

The stock market witnessed a bearish trend for the third straight trading session with the benchmark Sensex falling nearly 104 points and the NSE Nifty falling below the 8600-mark on Thursday morning.

The traders were cautious in their approach of liquidating bets ahead of the October derivatives expiry. The weak market sentiments were also attributed to the weak cues from the Asian markets following a slide in oil prices weighed on sentiment, brokers said.

The 30-share index was trading lower by 103.69 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 27,732.82. The index had lost 342.57 points in the previous two sessions.

Sectoral indices led by IT, power, auto, technology and metal trading in the red, falling by up to 0.62 per cent. The NSE Nifty fell 32.15 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 8,583.10 in early trade.

Offloading of positions by participants with Thursday being the last trading session of October series contracts in the derivatives segment and a weak trend in global markets dampened sentiment here.

Major losers were Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Wipro, SBI, Lupin, TCS, Axis Bank, L&T and Power Grid, falling by  up to 3.02 per cent.

Among other Asian markets,Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.33 per cent while Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.29 per cent in early trade on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite Index too inched lower by 0.24 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.17 per cent higher on Wednesday.