Sensex opens below 10,000 barrier at 9,683.41 points

Mumbai, Oct 23 (UNI) The 30-scrips sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today opened below 10,000 level at 9,683.41 points, down by 486.49 points, from its previous close of 10,169.90 on sustained heavy selling pressure from Foreign Institutional Investors and others in view of weak global cues.

The 50-shares Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) however opened flat at 3,064.80. Later, it recorded the day's high at 3,064.80 and low at 2,918.10 points. The sensitive index registered the high at 9,826.15 and a low at 9,681.28 points in the intra-day trade.

Brokers said ''The bearish trend in Asian markets offset relaxation of overseas borrowing norms for corporates, to pull the domestic bourses to lowest level in over two years at the onset of the trading session. IT stocks dropped on lower-than-expected results posted by Tata Consultancy Services and fall in the American depository receipts. Metal stocks plummeted on reports of fall in global metal prices.'' Asian stocks fell to a four-year low on growing fears that a global recession would depress corporate earnings. Key benchmark indices in Asian countries like Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan were down between 2.63 per cent and 7.39 per cent which reflected in downward trend at the domestic markets.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down by 2.97 pc at 3,386.72 and the BSE Small-Cap index was down 2.55 pc at 4,006.67. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.

Reliance Industries fell 5.38 per cent to Rs 1,244.75, ahead of Q2 September 2008 results this noon. ICICI Bank declined by 6.41 pc and was the major loser among the Sensex pack as its ADR prices fell sharply by 15.2 pc overnight. Bharti Airtel was down by 6.37 pc to Rs 624.75, Jaiprakash Associates was down by 4.97 pc to Rs 68.90 and Mahindra&Mahindra eased by 4.13 pc to Rs 363.70, ACC dropped 2.91 pc ahead of its Q2 September 2008 results today.

UNI AR-NV SSS/RDS1137.