The BSE benchmark Sensex extended losses for the fifth trading day in a row losing nearly 168 points in opening trade today as stocks of IT, FMCG and healthcare sectors fell on sustained selling by funds and retail investors amid a weak trend overseas.

The 30-share Sensex, which lost almost 284 points in the previous four sessions, fell further by 167.54 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 18,451.33. Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty declined by 48.50 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 5,618.45.

Brokers said sustained selling by funds amid a weak trend at Asian bourses following overnight losses at the US market as investors worry about the fiscal cliff, mainly dampened the trading sentiment here.

However, marginal decline in inflation numbers to 7.45 per cent in October capped the losses, they added. Meanwhile, in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell by 1.18 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.96 per cent in opening trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.45 per cent to its lowest close since June 26 lower in yesterday’s trade.

GLOBAL MARKET NEWS

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange fell 0.9 percent. The MSCI-Asia Pacific index excluding Japan fell 0.8 percent. U.S. stocks slid on Wednesday with declines accelerating after President Barack Obama set up a drawn-out fight over the fiscal cliff when he stuck to his pledge to raise taxes on the wealthy, and as violence increased in the Middle East.

Asian stocks mostly fell on Thursday as investors reacted to the prospect of drawn- out negotiations over the looming U.S. fiscal cliff by shedding riskier assets, but Japanese equities bucked the trend as a sharp slide in the yen lifted exporters’ shares.

INDIAN STOCKS TO WATCH

India has raised less than a quarter of its 400 billion rupees ($7.3 billion) target in a cellphone airwaves auction seen as too pricey by carriers.

Norway’s Telenor won back its telecom operating licences in six of India’s most populous states, paying less than markets expected and ending 10 months of uncertainty after courts cancelled its permits.

India’s headline inflation unexpectedly eased to its slowest pace in eight months in October, a welcome relief from a string of bad data but still high enough to be a headache for policymakers struggling to balance the need for growth with taming prices.

ENERGY/COMMODITIES

State-owned gas utility GAIL may offer up to 30 percent stake in its 1,550-km natural gas pipeline from Surat in Gujarat to Paradip in Odisha to Indian Oil Corporation, said a senior IOC official.

VLCC is in talks with a bevy of private equity suitors to raise money in a deal which could value it at up to $400 million (22 billion rupees), three people familiar with the negotiations said.

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