Sensex sinks further 155.24 pts in opening trade

Mumbai, Jun 4: The sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange slipped 155.24 points to be at 15,807.32 after making a firm start on the reported possibilities of domestic fuel retail price hike today. The Sensex opened the day with a positive gap of over 30 points at 15,992.90 from its previous close of 15,962.56 and then dived into red on selling pressure across the counters. The broader-based Nifty of National Stock Exchage was down nearly 50 points in the opening trade.

The market failed to sustain the gains slipped in negative zone amidst bouts of volatility in early trade ahead of the crucial decision on oil price hike later in the day, brokers said. Buying demand in mid-cap and small-cap stocks kept the market breadth positive. Asian markets were mixed.

Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.95 pc to Rs 2,383.90. IT stocks declined. Infosys was down 1.43 pc to Rs 1,895, Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam Computer Services and Wipro were marginally down.

Auto stocks were subdued ahead of crucial decision on oil price hike. Maruti Suzuki India declined 2.07 pc to Rs 770.15, Hero Honda Motors was down 1.5 pc to Rs 786.05, while Mahindra&Mahindra, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto were trading marginally down from their previous close.

As per provisional data, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 1,020.70 crore yesterday. Domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 262.49 crore on that day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 858.65 crore in the futures&options segment yesterday. They were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,394.78 crore and bought index options worth Rs 548.79 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 96.59 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 83.93 crore.

UNI