Sensex opens low at 17,259.65 pts, major down by 300 pts

Mumbai, Oct 22 (UNI) The BSE sensitive index today opened low at 17,259.65 points losing around 300 points from its last close of 17,559.98 points on sustained heavy selling pressure by FIIs and some mutual fund operators in view of bearish advice from global marekts.

'' The market opened on a weak note, as the sentiment was dampened by weak global markets. However, it recovered almost all the early losses on value buying coupled with short covering. The market witnessed volatility in early trade. Market breadth was negative on BSE, brokers said.

Later, the current BSE 30-share Sensex was till down by 77.64 points, or 0.44 per cent(pc),to 17,482.34 points. It opened 300.33 points lower at 17,259.65 and slipped to a low of 17171.45. At the day's low of 17,171.45, the Sensex had lost 388.53 points in intra day trade. Sensex hit a high of 17,546.15 so far during the day.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also was edged down by around 50 points, or 0.95 pc, to 5,189.60 at the current level, before it resumed low at 5202.75 points with a modest loss of 13 points from its last close of 5215.30 points. The Nifty index quoted below of 5200 barrier, touhching a low at 5070.90 in intra day trade.

India's largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) was sliding by 0.62 pc to Rs 2454 on 2.10 lakh shares. it recovered sharply from early lows of Rs 2395.

India's largest listed cellular services provider by sales, Bharti Airtel plunged by 4.49 pc to Rs 925 on 80,204 shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.

Mahindra&Mahindra was slipped by 2.78 pc to Rs 707.90 and Maruti Suzuki India eased by 2.19 pc to Rs 1050.90), were the other losers from Sensex pack.

India's largest cement manufacturer by sales, Ambuja Cements was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. It surged by 4.41 pc to Rs 145.75 after three block deals of 1.57 crore shares each were executed on the counter on BSE in opening trade at an average price of Rs 144.42 per share. It was the top traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 697.62 crore.

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank in terms of net profit rose by 1.75 pc to Rs 1042. Its net profit rose 32.7 pc to Rs 1002.60 crore on 41 pc growth in total income to Rs 9588.41 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006. The results hit the market after trading hours on last Friday.

State Bank of India was up by 1.46 pc to Rs 1692,followed by Hindalco Industries by 1.35 pc to Rs 177, and ACC by 1.39 pc to Rs 1004.90.

Brokers are awaiting the reports of the crucial meeting of the panel set up by the government to look into Left front's concerns over the Indo-US nuclear deal holds its fifth meeting today.

Asian markets were trading weak today,in the wake of a sell-off on Wall Street on last Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 2.53 pc at 28,720.83, Japan's Nikkei by 2.5 pc at 16,388.29, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted by 2.67 pc at 9,355.27, Singapore's Straits Times by 2.2 pc at 3,665.45 and South Korea's Seoul Composite by 3.63 pc at 1,898.59.

US markets tumbled on last Friday, amid lackluster profit reports and credit concerns on Black Monday Anniversary. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 366.94 points, or 2.64 pc, to 13,522.02. The Standard&Poor's 500 index fell by 39.45 points, or 2.56 pc, to 1, 500.63, and the Nasdaq Composite index dropped by 74.15 points, or 2.65 pc, to 2,725, which reflected to downward trend in Indian bources, brokers pointed out.

Volatility is expected to remain high for in coming few days ahead of expiry of October 2007 derivatives contracts on Thursday, 25 October 2007.

Crude oil prices fell toay,on profit taking from record highs, but hovered near on simmering geo-political tensions and a weak dollar. US light crude for November delivery fell by 77 cents to USD 87.83 a barrel. On last Friday,it touched an all-time high of USD 90.07. London Brent crude fell by 46 cents to USD 83.33 a barrel, brokers added.

UNI