Mumbai: The benchmark opened sharply lower with the tech counters taking the heat on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on September 18 following heavy selling pressure due to global bearishness.

Taking a cue from the Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite Index dropped by 172.63 points and 15.94 points respectively on September 17 night in the wake of a decline in industrial production and a profit warning from McDonalds, operators turned cautious and booked profits, particularly in their favourite IT counters.

South East Asian markets also resumed weak with the Nikkei tumbling by 262 points and the Hang Seng by 279 points at early stages.

The BSE-30 share Sensitive Index opened lower at 3,084.02 from overnight close of 3,103.90 and was trapped in a narrow range of 3,094.61 and 3,079.55 before being quoted at 3,082.74 at 10.30 am (IST).

Oil majors from public sector undertakings (PSUs) continued their downward march on selling.

PTI