Sensex opens down by 181 points

Mumbai, Aug 13: The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex on Wednesday, Aug 13 resumed negative at 15,030.21 points, with a major loss of 181.92, from its last finish of 15,212.13 on profit-booking by local operators due to weak global cues, brokers said.

Select heavyweight stocks opened lower, extending previous session's fall on renewed offloading by FIIs. Banking and automobile shares slipped. Metal and IT shares bucked weak market trend. ICICI Bank was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack. US stocks fell on Tuesday, Aug 12, as bank shares tumbled on fresh worries about the economy and further losses stemming from the mortgage crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 139.88 points, or 1.19 per cent (pc), to 11,642.47, while the Standard&Poor's 500 Index slid 15.73 points, or 1.21 pc, to 1,289.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 9.34 points, or 0.38 pc, to 2,430.61.

In Asian markets, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan were down by between 0.15 pc to 2.54 pc this morning, reflecting a downward trend on the Indian bources, a leading dealer pointed out.

Oil extended its sharp decline witnessed over the past few days. US crude oil for September delivery fell USD 1.44 to settle at USD 113.01 a barrel on August 12 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on concerns about a slowing economy and a drop in demand, also contributed to bearish phase in the markets.

Later, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 137.44 points, or 0.90 pc, to 15,074.69. At the day's low of 15,013.06, the Sensex lost 199.07 at the onset of trading session. The S &P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 22.75 points, or 0.50 pc, at 4529.50.

Top Sensex losers were HDFC Bank (down 1.71 pc at Rs 1,242.30), ONGC (down 1.50 pc at Rs 1,072.10), DLF (down 1.81 pc at Rs 557), and Maruti Suzuki (down 1.35 pc at Rs 668).

Top Sensex gainers were Sterlite Industries was up 2.67 pc at Rs 613 followed by Tata Steel by 1.78 pc at Rs 618.75, Bharat Heavy Electricals by 0.68 pc at Rs 1,817.50 and Satyam Computer by 0.29 pc at Rs 403.90.

UNI