Mumbai: After a promising start, equities reacted negatively and closed with substantial losses pushing the SENSEX down by about 27 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on September 3 on consistent selling by domestic funds coupled with fresh profit booking by retail investors.

The global gloom once again seems to have taken a toll on the Indian bourses. Operators and local funds were said to be continued sellers in several blue-chip counters in the light of a sharp downslide in world markets.

The NIKKEI and the Hang Seng finished sharply lower by 304.59 points and 106.30 points on September 3. Even London's FTSE 100-share Index was down by over 100 points during morning trading.

Market sources said the sentiment was partly affected by reports that Iraq was bracing for any possible US attack in the light of the US allegations on Iraq pursuing nuclear weapons.

Initially, rising to the intra-day high at 3193.44, the BSE benchmark 30-share Index later turned weak gradually moving downwards to end at 3159.77 as against previous close of 3187.26, netting a fall of 27.49 points or 0.86 per cent. The broad-based BSE-100 Index also dipped by 15.81 points to 1564.79 from previous close of 1580.60.

PTI