Mumbai: The SENSEX opened lower and was later trapped in an extremely narrow range in keeping with restricted activity at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on April l6 due to small bouts of selling from local operators as well as foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The BSE Sensitive Index opened moderately down at 3,459.08 as against a close of 3,461.51 on April 15 and later moved in a range between 3,459.08 and 3,443.10 before being quoted at 3,457.58 at 10:45 hours (IST).

Market sources attributed the hesitant and cautious attitude of players to prevailing political uncertainty following mounting pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to sack Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

HLL, which has the highest weightage in the SENSEX, suffered a sharp setback despite the company's announcement of encouraging financial results.

Speculators and FIIs remained sidelined adopting a wait and watch policy on fears of political instability even as Telegu Desam Party (TDP), a crucial ally of BJP, vowed to continue his fight for removal of Modi, they added.

PTI