Mumbai: The sensex opened moderately higher and later witnessed extremely narrow movements during morning trading in line with lacklustre activity on the Stock Exchange in Mumbai today (Aug 31, 2004) on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened up at 5192.18 as against yesterday's (Aug 30, 2004) close of 5186.45 and later fluctuated in a small range of 5197.71 and 5180.39 before being quoted at 5173.05 at 10.30 hrs (IST), down by 13.40 points.

Operators seemed to be cautious in view of some broad hints in the Reserve Bank of India's annual report about a hike in interest rates, an upward trend in inflation and slow down in growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004-05.

However, a sharp fall in oil prices is a strong factor for the market which is still bullish, brokers said.

Oil prices dipped by more than a Dollar, even as OPEC's move to increase its tight spare capacity. US light crude for October plunged by $1.53 to $ 41.65 a barrel.

Meanwhile, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index yesterday ended lower by 72.49 points and 25.60 points respectively.

Key counters like SBI, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, ITC, Tata Power, REL, Ranbaxy, MUL, ICICI bank, Hindalco, Hero Honda, HDFC Bank, BHEL, Bajaj Auto and Dr Reddy's Lab were quoted moderately lower on selling pressure. However, Bharti Tele-Venture, HPCL and RIL showed modest gains.