War fears: Sensex down by 40 points

The rising tension in the Middle East region has started pulling down Indian markets. Fears over a possible Gulf war drove the Sensex sharply down by 40.15 points to 3,247.71 at the Bombay Stock Exchange as nervous operators resorted to heavy selling ahead of the release of a key UN weapons report. Sensex had fallen by over 80 points last week.

However, operators could not take advantage of the privatisation of the two state-owned oil companies — HPCL and BPCL — resulting in these scrips coming under late selling, despite early sharp gains. A steep fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 238.46 points and in the Nasdaq Composite Index by 46.14 points last Friday also influenced the downtrend. Sensex opened lower at 3,283.93 from last Friday’s close of 3,287.86 and immediately touched a high of 3,286.46. Later it met with strong resistance and dipped to a low of 3,221.69 before concluding at 3,247.71, a steep fall of 1.22 per cent. The broad-based BSE-100 index also dropped by 24.40 points to 1,593.18 from previous close of 1,617.58.