Thursday, June 9 2005 11:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Jun 9, 2005) met with moderate resistance and moved downwards during morning trading after a steady start on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as operators booked profits at the prevailing higher levels.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened steady at 6858.70 as against yesterday's (Jun 8, 2005) close of 6858.24 and later dropped to a low of 6830.48 before being quoted at 6846.57 at 10:30 hrs (IST), down by 11.67 points.

The market is still bullish on the back of the progress of the monsoon and easing crude oil prices and attributed the modest setback to profit selling by day traders at higher levels, brokers said.

The market is expected to witness strong rally and the Sensex might hit the crucial 7000-mark during next month if the monsoon reached as anticipated and fund inflows increased, brokers added.

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Domestic mutual funds have slowed down their purchases as the Sensex approached the 7000 peak.

World oil prices fell for the third straight day, dipping below $53 a barrel yesterday.

Key counters like Wipro, Satyam Computers, Infosys Tech, HDFC, SBI, HDFC Bank and others were quoted down on selling pressure.

However, Tata Steel, RIL, REL, L&T, HLL, Cipla and Bajaj Auto showed marked gains on fresh buying support.