Stocks fell at the open tracking declines in markets overseas. Market analysts believe that the surge in inflation to a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent could lead to further selling later in the session.

At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex was down 180 points or 1.24 per cent at 14,391.12.

Biggest Sensex losers were ACC (down 2.01%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.01%), Cipla (1.93%), Bharti Airtel (1.88%), ITC (1.81%), and Reliance Infrastructure (1.72%).

NTPC, up 0.06 per cent, was the lone gainer in the 30-share index.

Market breadth on BSE showed 600 declines against 167 advances.

National Stock Exchanges Nifty was down 39 points or 0.91 per cent at 4308.15.

After a tumble, the market may take support between 4200-4250 levels in Nifty, but how long the recovery will then last is uncertain. Stale dessert served by Saudi Arabia at it's conclave yesterday clearly means that the main culprit - crude - remains large, Anagram Stock Broking said in a note.

Crude oil prices rose in Asian trading on Monday after Saudi Arabia said at a weekend summit that it had raised output, and said speculators were partly to blame for higher prices. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, was 29 cents higher at $135.65 per barrel.

Elsewhere in Asia, shares in Japanese suffered big losses Monday, extending their decline into the third straight session, as exporters such as Toyota Motor and Nikon leading the decline. The Nikkei 225 slipped 0.93 per cent. The Hang Seng shed 0.59 per cent in Hong Kong and the Straits Times was down 0.89 per cent in Singapore.

US stocks closed down on Friday as a fresh batch of disappointing news emerged from the financial sector. Financial downgrades put pressure on the large investment houses like Citigroup and Lehman Brothers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.83 per cent, the Standards & Poors 500 Index dropped 1.85 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.27 per cent.