Wednesday, October 19 2005 12:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) today (Oct 19, 2005) tumbled by 168 points during morning trading on across-the-board selling pressure from investors in reaction to heavy Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) withdrawal in the past few days coupled a sharp depreciation in rupee value.

The benchmark, however, recovered partially from the lows on buying from operators and local funds at lower levels.

The Sensex opened sharply lower at 8066.06 as against yesterday's (Oct 18, 2005) close of 8122.25 and later dipped below 8000 mark to a low of 7954.20 before being quoted at 8012.11 at 10.30 am, down by 110.14 points from previous close.

Investors rushed with sell orders, fearing continued FII withdrawals, following all-round sell-off by FII yesterday, brokers said.

FIIs have so far made withdrawals of over Rs 3300 crore in futures and Rs 970 crore in cash in October, indicating further pulling out of the Indian bourses.

Dollar's appreciation against global currencies and the rupee's fall to 11-month low have aggravated the situation with hedge funds resorting to selling pressure in the futures.

Despite strong economic fundamentals coupled with better-than-expected second quarter earnings announced by some major corporates, FIIs preferred to pull out from the overheated market in the light of strong dollar and a likely hike in US interest rates, brokers added.