Sensex at 19,603.09 points, down by 180 pts

Mumbai, Nov 16: The BSE index today resumed a negative at 19,603.09 points with a major loss around 180 points from its last close of 19,784.89 points on sustained heavy selling pressure by FIIs and local financial institutional investors in view of bearish phase in Asian markets.

Asian stocks sank today, tracking overnight fall in US stocks.

Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down between 1.8 pc and 3.8 pc.

US stocks sank yesterday, as investors grappled with concerns about the strength of consumer spending and the overall economy after downbeat comments from Wells Fargo&Co. and J.C. Penney Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid by 120.96 points, or 0.91 pc, to finish at 13,110.05. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index dropped by19.43 points, or 1.32 pc, to close at 1,451.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 25.81 points, or 0.98 pc, to 2,618.51 which affected to downward trend in Indian bources,brokers pointed out.

US crude for December delivery settled down by 66 cents, or 0.7 pc, at USD 93.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. The catalyst for the drop in oil prices was data showing a surprising increase in US crude inventories in the latest week.

They said, ''The market opened lower extending yesterday's losses on worries that credit losses from US mortgage defaults and slumping US home prices would grow worse, hurting US economy and US corporate profits. It, however, recovered from lower level after initial sharp fall. Banking, IT and power stocks were the worst hit. FMCG and oil&stocks moved up. Bharti Airtel extended gains. Reliance Industries gained. Asian markets declined.

Chief Executive John Stumpf of Wells Fargo&Co, the No. 2 US mortgage lender, told a conference yesterday, that the US housing slump was far from over and was the worst since the Great Depression.

The market has been volatile in recent sessions, caught between jitters about the US housing problems and optimism about India's economic outlook.

Later, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down by 125.04 points or 0.63 per cent (pc) at 19,659.85. At day's low of 19,472.51, it had lost 312.38 points from it last close.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty index of NSE resumed flat at 5913.15 points from its last close of 5912.10 points, later it eased by 18.3 points or 0.31 pc at 5893.80.It recorded a low at 5817.40 points in intra day trade.

Satyam Computers fell by 2.41 pc to Rs 418.20, ICICI Bank declined by 2.37 pc to Rs 1219, HDFC Bank lost by 2.02 pc to Rs 1664.80, Ranbaxy Laboratories dropped by 1.82 pc to Rs 415.95 and Housing Development&Finance Corporation (HDFC) eased by 1.68 pc to Rs 2673.50.

India's second largest software exporter by revenue Infosys Technologies fell by 1.29 pc to Rs 1631.70.

The BSE Bankex crashed by 1.54 pc to 11,053.02, the BSE IT index fell by 1.96 pc to 4,196.49 and the BSE Power index declinedby 1.20 pc to 4,613.94.

The BSE Mid-Cap index, however, rose by 1.5 pc to 8,414.09 and the BSE Small-Cap index hiked by 1.88 pc to 10,227.66.

Index heavyweight and India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries moved up by 0.22 pc to 2878.

ITC gained by 1.74 pc to Rs 192.95, Bharti Airtel rose by 0.96 pc to Rs 908.75, Dr Reddy's laboratories hardened by 0.83 pc to Rs 605, Ambuja Cements gained by 0.14 pc to Rs 7.23, Mahindra&Mahindra rose by 0.64 pc to Rs 724 and Reliance Energy gained by 0.96 pc to Rs 1871 points.

The BSE FMCG index rose by 1.83 pc to 2,138.62 and the BSE Oil&Gas index gained by 1.46 pc to 12,315.88, brokers added.

UNI