Sensex down by 151 pts at 14,412.99

Mumbai, Sep 1: The Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday, Sep 1 opened with a big loss of 151.54 points at 14,412.99 points from its previous close on profit-booking by local operators and reports of weak global cues, brokers said.

The select stocks opened lower on weak cues from global equities and uptick in oil price. Later, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 123.99 points. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in the red. Realty and banking shares witnessed major selling pressure. Aviation stocks rallied on reports of 16 per cent cut in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices state-run oil firms. Mid-cap and small-cap counters declined too.

The Asian stocks fell today amidst concerns about the impact of weaker global demand on the region's economies. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Koera, Singapore, Taiwan and China were down between 1.33 pc and 3.21 pc. The trend was reflected on the Indian bourses, brokers pointed out.

The US markets remained closed today for Labor Day holiday.

Oil rose above USD 116 a barrel today, as a quarter of US crude production was shuttered because of Hurricane Gustav, the biggest threat since 2005's destructive Hurricane Katrina.

The Sensex is at present down by 123.99 points, or 0.85 pc, to 14,440.54. It recorded the day's low of 14,394.19, losing 170.34 points in the early trades.

The S &P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) also opened low by four points at 4,356.10 from its last finish. Later, it was trading down by 34.70 points, or 0.80 pc, at 4,325.30.

India's largest private sector bank by market capitalisation, ICICI Bank, slipped 1.91 pc at Rs 658.70. India's second largest software exporter by sales, Infosys Technologies, fell 0.37 pc at Rs 1,742.10.

Among the top losers were Tata Motors, which was down by 2.11 pc at Rs 431.05. It was followed by Huosing Development Finance Corporation (down by 1.99 pc) at Rs 2297, NTPC (down 1.83 pc) at Rs 171.95 , Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 1.83 pc) at Rs 509 and DLF (down by 1.80 pc) at Rs 484.40.

Among the major gainers were Satyam Computers, which was up by 1.11 pc at Rs 424.50. It was followed by TCS (up by 0.55 pc) at Rs 816.90, Hindalco Industries (up by 0.41 pc) at Rs 123, ACC (up by 0.42 pc) at Rs 564 and Reliance Industries (RIL) (up by 0.43 pc) at Rs 2,146.

Aviation stocks gained on reports that the state-run oil companies have cut aviation turbine fuel prices by 16 pc, or Rs 11,784 a kilolitre, with effect from last midnight due to softening international crude prices. Jet Airways was up by 5.85 pc at Rs 500.05, SpiceJet (up by 5.13 pc) at Rs 28.70, Deccan Aviation (up by 6.49 pc) at Rs 84.50. However, major domestic airlines have ruled out cutting fares at the moment, brokers added.

UNI