Sensex dips below 15k level in early trade

MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday lost over 147 points to dip below 15,000 level in early trade on selling by funds and retail investors, sparked by weakening Asian markets.
    
The 30-share index, which had lost over 700 points in the past two sessions, fell further by 147.05 points to 14,919.05 in the first five minutes of trade.
    
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 55.15 points to 4,445.80.
    
Marketmen said reports of weakening trends in Asian stock markets continued to dampen the trading sentiments here.
    
In Japan, Nikkei-225 index was down 1.15 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 3.48 per cent.
    
Major losers, which pulled the Sensex down, were Larsen and Toubro, ONGC, Reliance Infrastructure, SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy, Wipro, Satyam Computers, Tata Steel and Reliance Communications.
    
However, Reliance Industries was in the positive zone with a gain of Rs 12.90 at Rs 2,176