Mumbai: The SENSEX opened moderately lower and later moved further downwards reflecting a subdued trend in equities at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on May 10 due to profit booking by domestic investors.

The BSE Sensitive Index opened moderately down at 3,454.85 as against a close of 3,435.06 on May 9 and later dipped to a low of 3,438.34 before being quoted at 3,447.91 at 10:30 hours (IST).

Domestic operators and even some institutional investors were believed to be booking profits at higher levels targeting software stocks in view of a setback in New York Stocks on May 9 night.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated by 1.03 per cent or by 104.41 points and the NASDAQ Composite Index dropped by 45.80 points on May 9.

Select second-rung stocks, however, attracted good buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which seemed to have shifted their focus to low-priced shares.

PTI