Mumbai: Global bearishness on concerns over soaring International crude oil prices weighed on the sensex, which opened slightly lower and moved down further at opening session on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Aug 4, 2004).

BSE-30 shares sensitive index opened lower at 5189.88 as against yesterday's (Aug 3, 2004) close of 5194.63 and moved in a range between 5197.23 and 5174.19 before being quoted at 5178.50 at 10.35 hrs (IST). Crude oil prices in New York hit new record levels of $ 44.15 per barrel on Tuesday, mainly depressed the market sentiment as it affect the economic growth, dealers said.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite deepened by 58.92 points and 32.67 points respectively last night. The South East-Asian markets also displayed a weak trend this morning.

However, steel counters continued to be in good demand, following rise in steel prices while sugar stocks also were in limelight on fresh buying support on hike in sugar prices.

From the index based shares Infosys tech, Satyam Computers, Ranbaxy, RIL, BHEL, ICICI Bank and SBI were quoted moderately lower on some profit-booking.