Mumbai: The Sensex opened moderately lower and moved further downwards in erratic activity during the morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Feb 06, 2004) on sustained selling pressure from investors.

The BSE Benchmark 30-Share Index opened weak at 5710.13 as against yesterday's (Feb 05, 2004) close of 5720.63 and later fluctuated irregularly in a range between 5745.62 and 5698.81 before being quoted at 5724.73 at 10.30: hours (IST). Investors seemed to have adopted wait and watch policy ahead of the dissolution of the Lok Sabha during the day with indications of elections at the end of April 2004.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which have made net investments of Rs 469 crore in the initial two sessions of the week, were believed to be heavy buyers in the futures and options segment while pressing sales in cash shares.

"The market is expected to remain volatile in the next couple of months as operators are likely book profits at the prevailing price levels, new equity issues will also absorb substantial funds from investors," brokers said. Tata Motor, Tisco, ONGC, HPCL, Infosys Tech, ITC, Wipro SBI, Satyam Computers, Bharti Televenture, BHEL, BSES and Dr Reddy's Lab were quoted remarkably higher.

However, heavyweights like HLL, Bajaj Auto and L&T showed marked falls due to selling pressure.