Markets closes at 2-month low; Nifty below 5100

The benchmark indices closed at two-month low on weak Asian and US cues, which hit by Greece crisis fears. The Sensex and Nifty closed below their psychological 17000 and 5100 levels for the first time since March 5, 2010.

Slowly spreading debt crisis from Greece to Portugal to Spain - in short PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) countries - have been hammering global markets despite assurance of funds from International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Greece. On Wednesday, Moody's said it was more likely to downgrade Portugal's Aa2 credit rating. Portugal and Greece CDS shot up post this news. Investors were in fears that this may impact India's FII inflow.

Shanghai in Asian markets was the biggest loser today, down over 4%. Nikkei also tanked 3.3%, which opened after three days. Hang Seng, Kospi, Straits Times, Jakarta and Taiwan Weighted fell 0.7-2%. The US markets were down 0.6-0.9% on Wednesday. However, European markets were positive, after looking oversold in last few days.

Arnab Das of Roubini Global Economics feels a Greece rescue package will help restrict issues to the eurozone region. But the global risk appetite will increase. "The European Union's stance while tackling the Greek crisis is important."

He does not know about the extent of Spain's problems because a number of regional public banks are sitting on big losses in their residential real estate portfolio. "This is a fiscal problem and that number could be large."
 
The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,987.53, down 100.43 points or 0.59% and the Nifty declined 34.05 points or 0.66% to settle at 5090.85, which shed 187 points in four sessions. The Nifty May future closed at 3 points premium, which into discount of 10-13 points during the day.

Das see signs of overheating in India. He feels inflationary pressures will continue to hurt the economy.