Friday, August 19 2005 19:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today declined further by 30.57 points to end at 7780.76 on the Stock Exchange, Mumbai, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as a large number of index heavyweights fell sharply due to increased selling towards the fag-end and closed notably weak.

The BSE benchmark 30-share sensitive index opened a shade higher at 7817.74 as against the previous close of 7811.33 and rose further to a high of 7867.89. Later, it declined sharply to a low of 7760.69, before finishing at 7780.76, showing a fall of 0.39 per cent over the last close.

Retail investors and operators continued to sell heavily even as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Mutual Funds (MF) who made good purchases of Rs 173.80 crore and Rs 209.57 crore in the first two day's of this week respectively, kept their commitments restricted in view of rising world crude oil prices, brokers said.

Crude oil prices climbed towards $ 64 a barrel in Asian trade today after protests forced Ecuador to suspend crude exports, underscoring market nervousness over supply disruptions. Selling was so strong, that even a fall in inflation, which dropped, to 3.35 per cent in the week ended August six from 3.84 per cent a week ago, was also ignored, brokers said.

Sharp falls were witnessed in bank and metal shares as the Bankex fell by 52.52 points to 4583.77 from 4636.29 and BSE-Metal dropped by 53.13 points to 6404.32 from 6457.45. However, smart rise in shares from Smallcap segment, minimised the index fall.