Tuesday, September 20 2005 10:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) today (Sept 20, 2005) showed signs of a resistance during morning trading, reacting negatively to reports that the market regulator was in the process of tracking Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) fund inflows in equity.

The Sensex opened weak at 8412.71 as against yesterday's (Sept 19, 2005) close of 8444.84 and later fluctuated erratically in a range of 8448.44 and 8376.12 on alternate bouts of buying and selling before being quoted at 8432.99 at 10.30 am, down by 11.85 points.

Investors have been awaiting a correction following a sharp bull run with the Sensex gaining by over 639 points or 8.19 per cent in 12 trading days of the month.

FIIs, however, were believed to be buyers in the market. FIIs have pumped in over Rs 1,595 crore in the last week while local mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 922 crore in the same period.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has expressed concern over the pace at which the markets have reached the current levels.

The market witnessed selling pressure during early trade in reaction to reports that the SEBI and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are now in the process of tracking fund flows from FIIs into stocks of companies whose net worth has eroded.

The SEBI was looking at individual stocks, as movements in some stocks were 'inexplicable.'