Mumbai: Share values reacted downwards at the opening session on profit selling by operators on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) here on December 19.

Recently favoured banking stocks suffered a fresh setback on profit booking, a dealer said.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened barely steady at 3,332.72 and immediately touched a high of 3,334.69. Later it met with strong resistance and dipped to a low of 3,313.45 before being quoted at 3,316.50 at 11.00 a.m (IST) as against the December 18 close of 3,333.31.

Select public sector undertakings (PSUs) counters also declined on selling by institutional investors. Software shares exhibited a mixed trend with frontline stocks declining on selling by foreign funds while select second-line shares attracted would buying support from speculators.

Dr Reddy continued to be in good demand on news that the company has won a patent dispute in the US against Pfizer.

PTI