Bombay: Stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) lost 2.1 per cent on Wednesday, following a fall in the Nasdaq and the shutdown of Enron Power Corp's power project, brokers said. The 30-stock BSE sensitive index was down 80.03 points to close trade at 3,662.04 points.

Brokers said most market participants had been nervously watching the fall of the Nasdaq over the past couple of days. "The triggers today, it seems, were the collapse of talks between Alcatel and Lucent Technologies and the profit warning by Sun Microsystems," said broker Rajesh Jain.

Jain said the fall on the BSE mirrored the decline on regional bourses. "Like elsewhere information technology stocks led the fall here too," he said.

Another reason for Wednesday's fall was the shutdown, a day earlier, of a controversial power project promoted by US-based Enron Power Corp, after the local government in the western Maharashtra state refused to buy any more electricity.

The $ 2.9 billion project is the largest single US investment in India and is seen as the litmus test of the country's commitment to economic reforms and globalisation.

Associated Cement Cos closed up 2.65 at Rs 144.90 while Reliance Industries was down 13.60 at Rs 390.55. State Bank of India lost Rs 3.95 to 226.50 and Infosys Technologies plunged 328.95, or 7.8 per cent, to 3,914.90.

Zee Telefilms shed Rs 17.50 or almost 12 per cent to 129.40 while Satyam Computers was down 17.70 or 7.1 per cent at 229.70.

AFP