Sensex falls 60 pts due to oil worries

Stock markets extended losses as selling pressure intensified in blue chips after the weakness in the last couple of sessions. While banking...

Stock markets extended losses as selling pressure intensified in blue chips after the weakness in the last couple of sessions. While banking and oil stocks led the fall, selling pressure was seen almost across the board amid fears that rising oil prices may hurt the economy.

Recording its third straight fall, the 30-share BSE S Sensex shed 59.57 points to end at 5,581.49. The benchmark index has shed 156.62 points in the last three sessions. From a recent high of 5,803.82 touched in intra-day trades on October 8, the Sensex has lost 222.33 points. The NSE S 038; P CNX Nifty index shed 22.50 points to end at 1,757.25.

The BSE Bankex shed 63.53 points to end at 2,660.61. SBI down 5 to Rs 439.10 lost ground on sustained selling pressure. ICICI Bank down 1.79 to Rs 285.45 ended lower following its quarterly results announced on Thursday.

Other banking stocks Canara Bank down 4.94 to Rs 142.50, Oriental Bank of Commerce down 4.92 to Rs 230, Andhra Bank down 3.69 to Rs 48.25 and Punjab National Bank down 3.37 to Rs 240.70 also ended lower on selling pressure amid worries of an interest rate hike.

The market displayed extreme caution ahead of the RBI8217;s review of monetary policy tomorrow.

Indian Oil down 3.23 to Rs 419.75 set the weak trend in oil refining stocks on disappointing quarterly results. For the quarter ended September 2004, the company posted a 31.39 fall in net profit to Rs 1,239.53 crore. Other PSU oil refining/ marketing stocks like HPCL down 4.94 to Rs 306.65, IBP down 4.18 to Rs 525.55 and BPCL down 2.71 to Rs 339.90 also lost ground.

Rising international oil prices continued to nag the markets. US light crude oil for December delivery jumped 68 cents to settle at a new closing high of 55.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude prices have climbed nearly 70 so far this year. India imports about 70 of its crude oil requirements. Economists feel that sustained high oil prices could affect India8217;s economic growth.