Mumbai: The Sensex turned weak after opening on a promising note and fluctuated in a small range of about twenty points during morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange today (Oct 27, 2004) on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened up at 5656.71 as against yesterday's close of 5651.09 and later moved in a narrow range of 5657.76 and 5623.04 before being quoted at 5637.37 at 10.30 am, down by 13.72 points.

Operators preferred to maintain low profile after covering their short positions yesterday, adopting a cautious approach in view of a 25 basis points hike in Repo rate, which market players feel is an indication on a likely increase in the interest rates, brokers said.

The cautious approach was also attributed to lower growth projections and high inflation estimates for the fiscal in the busy season Credit and Monetary Policy.

Operators seemed to be interested in squaring up of their positions ahead of the expiry of October contract in derivatives on Thursday.

Blue chip counters including RIL, Infosys Technologies, HPCL, Hindalco, HLL, Dr Reddy's, SBI and Bajaj Auto were quoted substantially lower on selling pressure.

However, Tata Steel, Wipro, L&T, Hero Honda, HDFC Bank, GACL, Cipla and ACC showed marked gains on fresh buying support.