The 30-share index BSE Sensex started the day on a lower note today following heavy selling activity prior to the central bank's (RBI) monetary plan review amid weakening worldwide trend.

During the first five minutes of trading, Sensex lost 182.03 points to 16,124.84 as against its last closure in which it closed up by 17 points.

In the meantime, the broad-based Nifty lost 53.60 points to 4,813.65 points.

According to marketmen, shareholders sold stocks on worries that RBI in its monetary plan appraisal may increase rate of interest in order to rates to control the increasing inflationary numbers.

Trading outlook also dampened on declining trend in worldwide bourses.

In its monetary plan review, the central bank has increased CRR by 75 basis points as compared to the street consensus of 50 bps whilst the repo rate and reverse repo rates remained the same.

The increase in CRR, which will draw off Rs 36000 crore from the system, will be done in two stages.

The first CRR increase of 50 bps will be applicable by Feb 13, while the second phase of 25 bps will be from Feb 27.

At 1:10 pm, Sensex stood at 16,210.52, down 96.35 points, while Nifty lost 27.90 points to trade at 4839.35.

The BSE Midcap Index slumped 0.82% and BSE Smallcap Index dropped 1.08%.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index fell 2.93% followed by BSE IT Index, which declined 2.58%, BSE Healthcare dangled 1.72%.

The gainers' among the sectoral indices included BSE Capital Goods Index, which surged 0.88%, BSE Bankex gained 0.77% and BSE Power Index was up by 0.13%.