Mumbai: After overnight smart gains, profit booking at higher levels right from the onset of business following weak global advices, led the Sensex to open sharply lower and move irregularly at morning session on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (July 2, 2004).

The BSE-30 share Sensitive Index opened sharply down at 4842.46 as against yesterday's close of 4874.05 and moved erratically in a range between 4862.04 and 4813.16 before being quoted at 4859.58 at 10:30 hours (IST).

Attributing the weak start to negative global advices, dealers said the operators turned cautious and booked profits before the presentation of the Union Budget on July 8.

On the Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled by 101.32 points and 32.24 points respectively last night.

South East Asian markets also showed depressed trends at early stages. The Nikkei was quoted down by 174 points, the Hang Seng by 146 points and the Singapore ST Index by eight points today.