Mumbai: The sensex opened slightly lower and in a two-way movement, was trapped in a narrow range at opening session on the Stock Exchange in Mumbai (BSE) today (Aug 6, 2004) on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index resumed weak at 5249.73 as against yesterday's (Aug 5, 2004) close of 5252.78 and moved irregularly in a range between 5262.89 and 5234.34 before being quoted at 5246.05 at 10.45 hrs (IST), down by 6.73 points.

Operators and retail investors turned cautious following bearish global advices, dealers said.

On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled by 163.48 and 33.43 points respectively last night following another surge in crude oil prices, which ended at $ 44.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Depressed Southeast Asian markets early today also partly aided the downtrend. However, according to market participants, the impact of the global weakness was negligible on the sensex as the fears of drought receded due to good monsoon in most parts of the country, which brought relief to farmers, ultimately aiding the economic growth.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are reportedly churning their portfolios and were net buyers, albeit in small quantity, worth Rs 96 crore on the first three days of the current month.

Blue chips like Bajaj Auto, BHEL, Cipla, GACL, Grasim, Hero Honda, HLL, MUL, SBI and Tata power were quoted marginally higher.