Sensex opens low at 13,313.91 pts, down by 27 pts

Mumbai, Dec 21 (UNI) The downward drift of the Sensex continued unabated today on the Bombay Stock Exchange, at it opened lower at 13,313.91 points with a modest loss of around 27 points, from it's last close of 13,340.21 points, due to a combination of factors like profit booking by local operators, sustained selling pressure exerted by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and a weak trend displayed by India ADRs on Wednesday.

IT, banking and cement pivotals suffered a setback on lack of fresh bull support from FIIs.

Later, Sensex was down 50 points at 13,289. It had declined as much as 157.86 points to a low of 13,182.35 during the mid-morning sesson.

The current index quoted lower at 13,280.93 with a major loss of 59.28 points from it's last close.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed flat at 3814.75 points.

Later, the index recorded a high and low at 3818.55 and 3768.80 points respectively, during the morning session. The present index has touched a low at 3809.70 with a modest fall of 6.15 from it's last close of 3815.55 points.

As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 354 crore on Wednesday, 20 December. They were net buyers to the tune of Rs 270 crore in index-based futures and Rs 152 crore in individual stock futures on that day.

ICICI Bank shed 2.2 per cent to Rs 840 and housing finance major HDFC lost 1.6 per cent to Rs 1545. State Bank of India shed 0.7 per cent to Rs 1207.

IT pivotals witnessd subdued tracking fall in their ADRs on Wednesday. Satyam Computer shed 1.3 per cent to Rs 452 after its ADR shed 1.9 per cent to USD 22.56. Infosys was down 0.8 per cent to Rs 2154 after it's ADR shed 1.5 per cent to USD 52.68.

Tech Mahindra jumped 10 per cent to Rs 1370 after it bagged a large USD 1 billion five year contract from BT.

Cement pivotals were subdued. ACC lost 0.6% to Rs 1017, Gujarat Ambuja Cements shed 1 per cent to Rs 132.85 and Grasim shed 0.7 per cent to Rs 2646.

Cellular services major Bharti Airtel lost nearly 1 per cent to Rs 598 and car major Maruti Udyog shed 1.4 per cent to Rs 910.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rose 0.1 per cent to Rs 1251. Oil exploration major ONGC shed 0.7 per cent to Rs 852.

Hindustan Zinc was flat at Rs 832. Hindustan Zinc said on Thursday it has cut lead prices by Rs 3,200 per tonne to Rs 85,600 per tonne, with immediate effect.

Hindalco shed 0.2 per cent to Rs 169.50 tracking weakness in global copper prices.

Asian markets were mostly subdued as they took a breather after a strong rebound the previous session.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 7.45 points, or 0.06 percent, to end at 12,463.87, while the Standard&Poor's 500 Index edged down 2.02 points, or 0.14 percent, to finish at 1,423.53.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.94 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 2,427.61.

Oil slid 45 cents to USD 63.27 after jumping to a three-month high above USD 64 a barrel on Wednesday, spurred by a steep drop in US crude inventories.

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