After opening with a loss of 112.08 points at 14,338.27, BSE Sensex seemed to be on a recovery note.

IT, auto and banking stocks remained major gainers, while realty, oil & gas saw heavy selling action.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened with a loss of 112.08 points at 14,338.27 on Tuesday.

At 12.58 p.m., the 30-share index Sensex stood at 14,417.14, down 17.37 points, after touching a high of 14,440.06 and a low of 14,286.38. In the meantime, the broad based Nifty lost 17.4 points at 4,317.95.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex ended slightly higher on Monday, Aug 25 after an early rally bolted out of steam, following a negative opening in European markets and as oil prices climbed up from a sharp fall.

Volume was light as capitalists were wary of foreign funds, which have been heavy sellers during the year (2008), while a decelerating domestic financial system and soaring interest rates gave some relief.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower Tuesday after the US market fell overnight.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 169.14 points, or 1.31 per cent, to 12,709.52.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 21.21 points, or 1.71 per cent, at 1,218.04.

The Tokyo players sold issues mainly in consumer finance, retail and the banking sector.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 109.30-35 yen, down from Monday's 5 pm quote of 109.96-97 yen.

Washington - Financial shares led a sharp drop Monday on Wall Street after news of the collapse of a small bank in Kansas fed continuing worries about bad loans still on the books of companies in the sector.

Columbian Bank & Trust Co, based in Kansas, became the ninth federally insured bank to fail this year in the United States, a symptom of the continuing repercussions of the US mortgage crisis, which has plagued Wall Street since the deflation of a housing price bubble last year.

Hong Kong- Hong Kong stocks jumped by 3.5 per cent Monday, spurred on by a resurgent Wall Street to stage their biggest one-day rally in five months.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 712.23 points at 21,104.79 points, 3.5 per cent higher than Friday's close. Turnover was 55.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.1 billion US dollars).

The strong performance by the Hong Kong market saw blue chips jump in value as Hong Kong reacted to big gains on Wall Street Friday. On Thursday, the Hang Seng Index lost 2.6 per cent.