Sensex slips in fear of Mid term polls

Mumbai, Aug 21: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today opened higher at 14,512.19 from it's previous close of 14,427.55 on positive global cues, but soon slipped by around 133 points with the frightening prospect of a general election looming large over the country.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also opened marginally stronger at 4,209.55 from it's previous close of 4,209.05, but then shed around 47 points by the end of the opening session.

Yesterday, the Left parties insisted that a freeze on the forthcoming negotiations on India-specific safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was a prerequisite for accepting the government's suggestion of setting up a panel to look into Left's concerns over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Earlier on Saturday, the comrades had warned the government of serious consequences if it pursues with the nuclear deal with the US, political analysts said and pointed out that the four Communist parties have 60 MPs in the 545-member lower house of parliament. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government could fall or be reduced to a minority if the Left withdraws support, they explained.

Consequently, all the sectoral indices on BSE are trading with losses. BSE data reveals that the market breadth is negative with close to 2 losers for every gainer. 1,579 shares have declined while 780 have advanced and 48 have remained unchanged.

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 24 declined while six have advanced so far.

While Bharti Airtel was the top gainer from the Sensex pack, the early laggards included Reliance Communications, Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computer Services, TCS, Wipro, Reliance Energy, SBI and ICICI Bank. Bajaj Auto and Mahindra&Mahindra edged higher.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher today and even US blue-chip stocks rose yesterday. Besides, Oil prices dropped today as traders shifted focus from the threat of Hurricane Dean on US energy facilities in the Gulf of Mexico to worries about global stock markets. Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost 36 cents to USD 70.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

UNI