New York - Major US stock indices fell on opening Wednesday after the election of Democrat Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.4 per cent at 1508 GMT, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.19 per cent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.23 per cent.

Obama celebrated a resounding victory over Republican John McCain Tuesday night after an election campaign that was dominated by concerns over the credit crisis and faltering US economy.

The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slipped deeper into the negative in late afternoon trade today, on account of aggressive selling at several blue chip counters.

Oil & gas, metal and realty stocks were hammered badly.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index lost more than 1% each.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex, today, opened with a gain of 300.05 points at 10,931.17.

At 3:03 a.m., Sensex lost 409.87 points, or 3.86%, at 10,221.25 after touching a high of 10,945.41 and a low of 10,218.92.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares rose by more than 3 per cent Wednesday as news of Barack Obama's historic US presidential election win sent a feel-good thrill through regional markets.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index climbed by 455.82 points, or 3.17 per cent, to end the day at 14,840.16. Turnover was 63.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.16 billion US dollars).

Beijing - China's two main stock market indices soared by more than 3 per cent Wednesday after an overnight climb on Wall Street spurred regional gains across Asia.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in foreign and local currencies, closed at 1,760.61 after gaining 53.91 points, or 3.16 per cent.

The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index also climbed by 3.04 per cent, or 13.88 points, to end the day at 470.86.

Seoul - Shares surged for the fi

IT, pharma and select realty, consumer durables and power stocks trade strongly while the benchmark BSE index Sensex continues to languish in the negative terrain with a sharp loss on account of heavy selling activity in Reliance Industries, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, ACC, Tata Steel, SBI and Grasim Industries.

At 12:28 p.m., the Sensex lost 191.25 points 10,439.87, while the Nifty stood at 3087.30, down 54.80 points.