Japan quake causes tsunami, fires, landslide

The U.S. Geological Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.8.

A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.

The Tokyo stock market extended its losses after the quake was announced. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Japan's northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

Japanese quake: Nifty trembling

The benchmark Sensex shed more than 150 points amid a choppy trade at 12:20 hours after an earthquake in Japan. The 50-share NSE Nifty too touched the 5450 level, dragged down by technology, metal, auto (except Hero Honda) and financial stocks. BHEL, Bharti and Reliance Industries too were down.

According to Reuters, an earthquake measuring 7.9 struck off the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo and triggering a 6-metre tsunami warning, NHK reported. Japan's Nikkei tanked 1.7%.

There was a fire in Tokyo's Odaiba area near port post earthquake. Tsunami of 4-metre too has hit pacific coast of Japan. Tokyo's Narita airport is shut. Two nuclear plants in Japan are also shut down automatically. Bank of Japan said would do utmost to ensure financial market stability.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,174, down 154 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 48 points to 5,446. Among other Asian markets - Straits Times, Kospi and Hang Seng tanked over 1%.

About 1079 shares advanced as against 1488 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Strong earthquake jolts east Japan, tsunami warning

A massive 8.8 magnitude quake hit the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, causing many injuries, at least one fire and triggering a four-metre (13-ft) tsunami, NHK television and witnesses reported.

Nikkei average closed down 1.7% at 10,254.43 points after the earthquake struck. India Tsunami Centre says there are no local alerts yet in wake of Japanese quake.

There was also a warning of a 10-metre tsunami following the quake, Japan's biggest in 7 years.

The public broadcaster showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.

Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama's Isogo area.

TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan.

"The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks," Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said.

"It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago."

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers' hands. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

The US Geological Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.8.

The Tokyo stock market extended its losses after the quake was announced. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Japan's northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater

Nifty slips weak global market

The Nifty slipped moderately in opening trade following fall in global markets on baggage of news. Indian benchmarks already saw a major fall yesterday, so they did not react too much to 2% crack in US markets on Thursday.

London Brent crude remained above USD 115 a barrel, which is headed for its first weekly decline in four weeks. There were reports that Saudi police was in the eastern city of Qatif - fired shots and stun grenades at several hundred protestors.

Reliance Communications, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, Jaiprakash Associates, Hindalco, SAIL, Sterlite, Tata Steel, IDFC, SBI, HDFC, HDFC Bank, BHEL, Tata Motors, M&M, Infosys, Ambuja Cements and Wipro were dragging the markets down.

Reliance Capital gained over 1% as Nippon Life is going to invest USD 720 million in Reliance Life, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

However, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Hero Honda and BPCL were on buyers' radar.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,251, down 77 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 25 points to 5,469.

The CNX Midcap slipped 40 points to 7,620. About 248 shares advanced as against 589 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

New listings

Sudar Garments was trading at Rs 84, up 17% over issue price of Rs 77 a share.

Fineotex Chemical was trading at Rs 88, up 26% over issue price of Rs 70 a share.

Listed yesterday - Acropetal Technologies was down by 7% at Rs 90.

Midcap & Smallcap space:

Unitech was down 1.5%. According to sources, TRAI recommendations suggested cancelation of 8 Uninor licenses in Assam, North-east, J&K, Haryana, MP, Punjab, HP and Rajasthan.

Tata Coffee fell 1% as Coffee futures tanked 5%.

3i Infotech was down 1.5% and Shree Renuka down 3%. Maxwell Industries lost 1.5%.

DB Realty rallied 5% as Maharashtra gave clean chit to former MD Shahid Balwa. Maharashtra Home Ministry filed affidavit in Delhi HC and affidavit said 'nothing adverse' was found against Balwa, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

Reliance Broadcast was up 3%. Gokaldas Exports gained 6%.

Nifty below 5500

Indian equity were witnessing selling pressure today at 10:54 hours on the back of continued worries in Libya. London Brent crude climbed above USD 116 a barrel yesterday, up 3% over previous day's close and NYMEX crude too gained upto USD 105 a barrel, which was worrying factor for global markets.

Libyan leader Gaddafi forces hit oil facilities in Central Libya; crushed rebels with artillery and gunfire in at least two major cities. Asian markets too were under pressure - Shanghai, Nikkei, Kospi and Taiwan fell over 1%. Straits Times and Hang Seng lost over 0.5%.

Ian Scott global head of equity strategy with Nomura says these geo-political (Middle East and North Africa) concerns have had an effect on equity markets particularly some of the big oil importers like India. "Investors are more concerned about the geo-politics than high oil prices. I think stock market can live with oil above USD 100 a barrel if we could get rid of some of the concerns on the geo political side," he adds.

Scott says he prefers developed markets to emerging ones. Nomura has, in fact, cut its exposure in emerging market since the first week of December, moving from an overweight view to an underweight one.

On the rationale behind his stand on emerging markets, he says, "The inflationary backdrop here is bad and is probably going to worsen before getting any better. Also, valuations have been a little stretched, especially in India. The gap in PE multiples between India and other emerging markets (particularly China) needs to narrow down."

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,336, down 133 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 41 points to 5,490. However, the broader indices were flat in trade.

He feels it is too early to come back to Indian markets; "the relative valuations are still high here and there is still some adjustment to take place in terms of monetary policy. We may see some near-term pressure on margins as a result of higher cost as well," he says.

Technology, financial, FMCG, infrastructure and select metal companies' shares were dragging the markets down.

Among frontliners, ICICI Bank, SBI, Tata Power, TCS, Hindalco, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Tech were the top losers with 1-2% fall.

However, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies' shares like Reliance Capital and Reliance Infrastructure gained 3.4% & 1.7%, respectively. Reliance Communications too gained 0.5%. SAIL, Maruti, ACC, Ambuja and Tata Motors were other gainers.

New listing - Acropetal Tech was trading at Rs 121.25, up 34.72% over issue price of Rs 90 a share.

In midcap space, Wockhardt, Bayer Cropscience, HCC, KS Oils and Uttam Galva gained 4-6% while Godfrey Phillip, KGN Industries, AstraZeneca, Kirloskar Oil and Atlas Copco lost 2.5-5%.

In smallcap space, Gokaldas Export, Symphony, TTK Healthcare, Gulf Oil Corp and Ester Inds rallied 7-12% whereas Urja Global, EIH Associated Hotel, Genesys Int, Poly Medicure and OCL Iron fell 5-10%.