Mumbai: The Sensex opened cautiously steady and later witnessed narrow movements in a range of about 30 points in line a mixed pattern of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Nov 14) on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened slightly lower at 4,948.77 from yesterday's close of 4,949.16 and later fluctuated in a range between 4,961.37 and 4,930.67 before being quoted at 4,950.97 at 10.30 hrs (IST).

Investors were believed to have drastically slow down their activity in reaction to additional margins imposed by the National Stock Exchange on a section of players yesterday.

Speculators too have turned cautious on indication that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have been net buyers in the past, might resort to heavy sell-off. FIIs have slowed down activity in the last few sessions. Domestic funds have been net sellers during the last several sessions.

The market is unlikely to sustain further given the long positions built up by operators in futures and options as well as impositions of margins.

Bajaj Auto, Grasim Ind, L&T, SBI, Ranbaxy Lab, RIL, ONGC and a few others were quoted lower due to selling.

However, Bharti Tele, BHEL, BSES, Dr Reddy, HDFC, HDFC Bank, HPCL, Infosys Tech, ITC and Wipro showed moderate gains.

Among the top gainers, Jindal Iron and Steel (JISCO) were quoted up by 5.85 per cent, LIC House by 5.60 per cent, Jaiprakash by 3.63 per cent and SKF Bearing by 3.07 per cent.

However, Vijaya Bank, Finolex Ind, Thermax, GMDC and IDBI Bank were among the top losers.

PTI