MUMBAI - Indian share prices fell 1.63 percent in early morning trade Friday, amid weak Asian markets and persistent fears of negative news from the US housing market, dealers said.
They said investors chose to sell interest-rate sensitive metal, property, bank and commodity stocks, but the panic seen on Thursday was absent.
At 0445 GMT, the benchmark 30-share Sensex index was down 234.19 points at 14,124.02, off the day's low of 14,113.17.
The Sensex racked up its second sharpest closing fall in point terms on Thursday, plunging by 642.7 points or 4.28 percent.
"Investor sentiment is still nervous, beaten by Thursday's losses. We expect a further sell-off as investors would not keep positions open ahead of the weekend," said a dealer at brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher.
At Thursday's close the Sensex has fallen 9.5 percent from its intraday record of 15,868.85 on July 24.
08/17/2007 04:58 GMT