Sensex opens low at 18,794.63 points

Mumbai, Oct 12: The index of BSE today opened low at 18,794.63 points with a modest of around 20 points from the previous day's close at all time of 18,814.07 points on fresh selling pressure by local operators in view of weak advice from Asian markets.

The market recovered from lower level from initial slide that was caused by weak Asian markets. Metal and oil&gas stocks were in demand. Most of the sectoral indices were in the red. Reliance Industries and ONGC hit all-time highs. IT stocks declined for the second day in a row. Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, were subdued to weak, brokers said.

Later, the current the BSE 30-share Sensex index of BSE is steeply down 156.42 points, or 0.83 per cent(pc), to 18,657.65 points. It opened subdued today and soon declined to hit its intraday low of 18,635.68. At day's again all time high of 18,844.62 .

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE resumed flat at 5525.30 points. Later it day's a new peak at 5549.30 points in intra day trade. But it came down at 5466.60 points in mid-morning session.The current nifty index is still down around by 20 to 5504.30 points from it last close of 5524.85 points.

India"s largest private company in terms of market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose by 2.33 pc to Rs 2,691. It hits an all-time high of Rs 2,700 today. It holds its annual general meeting (AGM) today. Expectations have been running high about RIL declaring bonus or stock split at the AGM.

ONGC hiked by 2.57 pc to Rs 1,094.05. It hits an all-time high of Rs 1,099, followed by Hindalco Industries by 0.94 pc to Rs 177.50, Tata Steel by 1.93 pc to Rs 866 and Mahindra&Mahindra 0.93 pc to Rs 821.40.

IT stocks declined further. Strong rupee and possible US recession had hit the stocks since yesterday after Infosys had announced its Q2 September 2007 results before trading hours.

Infosys was down 1.2 pc to Rs 1,952.35,followed by Wipro by 2.79 pc to Rs 474.50, Satyam Computer by 1.86 pc to Rs 439.60, TCS by 1.48 pc to Rs 1,056.

India"s largest telecom services provider in terms of market share,Bharti Airtel declined by 1.93 pc to Rs 1,075.

HDFC Bank was down by 1.4 pc to Rs 1,436. It announces Q2 September 2007 results today.

Mastek surged by 25.69 pc to Rs 404.30 after its board approved the buyback of the company's equity shares for an amount up to Rs 65 crore.

Asian markets, which opened before the Indian markets, were subdued today. Hong Kong"s Hang Seng was down by 1.82 pc to 28,610.50,followed by Singapore"s Straits Times by 1.11 pc to 3,832.78, Japan's Nikkei by 0.77 pc at 17,324.60, South Korea"s Seoul Composite by 1.62 pc to 2,026.02, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted by 1.56 pc to 9,546.04, brokers added.

On Wall Street on yesterday, Chinese Internet company Baidu.com Inc. tumbled 10 pc after JPMorgan cut its third quarter revenue target, spurring concerns that the recent US tech rally may be coming to a close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost by 39.41 or 1.4 pc at 2,772.20, while the blue-chip Dow which hit an intraday record high earlier, settled 63.57 points or 0.45 pc lower at 14,015.12, brokers added.

UNI