Mumbai: The Sensex opened marginally lower and moved side-ways on alternate bouts of buying and selling during morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Oct 25, 2004).

The BSE-30 share sensitive index resumed weak at 5633.48 as against last Thursday's close of 5641.06 and moved in a range between 5645.88 and 5617.28 before being quoted at 5632.38 at 10.30 am, down by 8.68 points.

Dealers attributed bearish trend to continuous rise in global crude oil prices and also weak overseas advices.

Squaring up of long as well short positions few days ahead of the end of October contracts in Futures and Options segment also weighed on the share values, a broker commented.

Index-based shares like ITC, Grasim, GACL, HDFC, HLL, Hindalco, HPCL, REL, Satyam Computer, SBI, Tata Motors, Hero Honda and ICICI Bank showed marked falls on profit-selling while RIL, Infosys Tech, BHEL and HDFC Bank were quoted marginally higher.

Infosys Tech was in the limelight following a smart rise in company's ADR in New York last weekend while Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) also attracted buying just ahead of announcement of second quarter results today.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, set a record $ 55.50 a barrel and finished at a record settlement of $ 55.17 on Friday.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled by 107.95 points and 38.48 points last weekend while South-east Asian markets also displayed bearish trend early today morning.