The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex opened lower by 182 points on Friday on heavy selling by funds ahead of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy review amid weakening global trend.
The 30-share index dropped by 182.03 points to 16,124.84 points in the first five minutes of trading. The BSE barometer had closed up by 17 points on Thursday.
The National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 53.60 points to 4,813.65 points.
Marketmen said investors sold shares on fears that RBI in its monetary policy review later in the day may hike interest rates to stem the rising inflation.
Trading sentiment also weakened on falling trend in global markets.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 1.27 per cent, while Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 fell by 1.56 per cent as investors took their cue from an overnight slump on Wall Street.
U.S. markets fell by over 1 per cent after weak forecast from Qualcomm and cautious comments from Standard & Poor’s on British banks.
