Thursday, August 25 2005 11:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index (sensex) today (August 25, 2005) opened strong and later fluctuated erratically in volatile trade during morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as operators continued to square up their holdings on the last day of August contract in derivatives.

The sensex opened remarkably higher at 7651.11 as against yesterday's close of 7612.00 and later moved in a range of 7658.43 and 7601.64 before being quoted at 7602.18 at 10.30 a.m., down by 9.82 points.

Attributing the continued volatility to expiry of Futures contract, brokers said operators have adopted a cautious approach and were engaged in covering short positions as well as unloading shares wherever they are long.

Operators and retail investors remained cautious due to a slowdown in FII activity. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reported small net investments of Rs 70 crore in the first two days of the week.

Meanwhile, the government said economy performed well despite global oil price rise and natural calamities while admitting a possible "strain" on fiscal situation due to higher spendings in coming months.

The global oil prices soared to a new high of US Dollars 67.32 a barrel in Asian trade this morning, causing concerns among investors, brokers added.

Key stocks like RIL, REL, SBI, Tata Motors, ACC, Grasim, Dr Reddy's Lab, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Maruti Udyog, ONGC and ITC were quoted substantially down due to fresh selling pressure.