Updated on Friday, July 03, 2009, 10:32 IST

Mumbai, July 03: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 150 points in the opening trade on Friday on heavy selling by funds in heavyweight stocks amid weak Asian stock markets.

The 30-share index was quoted at 14,499.74 points, a loss of 158.75 points over the previous close.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped by 49.90 points to 4,298.95 points at the same time.

Marketmen said markets sentiments were mainly dampened by weak trends on the global markets after lower-than-expected US job data.

They said cautious approach by major players, who kept their positions light ahead of the Budget, also impacted the sentiments.

Major losers were Infosys Technologies by 2.15 percent at Rs 1,757.25, ICICI Bank by 1.13 per cent at Rs 723.45, ONGC by 1.62 percent at Rs 1,108.15, Sterlite Industries by 1.20 per cent at Rs 626.50 and Tata Steel by 0.62 per cent at Rs 417.55. However, most-weighted Reliance Industries gained 0.81 per cent at Rs 2,026.50 on short-covering.

Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index were down up to 1 percent in the morning trade today.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2.63 percent down yesterday.

Bureau Report