The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 16 points at 4,868. The markets languished in negative territory for better part of the trading session, but a sharp turnaround in early noon deals saw the index drift into positive territory to touch an intra-day high of 4,881.

The slide, however, re-started in mid-noon deals and reached its peak towards the closing hours, where the index slipped to an intra-day low of 4,727 following unabated selling pressure across-the-board.

The Sensex finally finished with a huge loss of 2% (96 points) at 4,756. The Nifty also bore the brunt on overall selling pressure, and lost 37 points to 1,506.

While only three Sensex stocks advanced, 27 declined today. The traded volume and value of the index scrips were higher at 3.95 crore and Rs 1,478.71 crore, respectively.

Reliance at Rs 468 (down 3% or Rs 13), HLL at Rs 189 (down 3% or Rs 6) and ITC at Rs 871 (down a per cent or Rs 5) contributed to the weakness of the index. More than 39 lakh Reliance shares were traded on the BSE with value of Rs 187 crore.

BHEL remained weak through the session, and lost 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 431. HPCL ended with a steady loss of Rs 2 at Rs 323. MTNL, however, bucked the downtrend to finish 2% higher at Rs 118. SBI closed up a rupee at Rs 488. The banking major logged a volume of more than 43.26 lakh on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 213 crore.

Dr. Reddy's was battered today on sharp selling pressure, and slumped 5% (Rs 61) to Rs 1,127. Ranbaxy also came under intense selling pressure, and dropped 4% (Rs 41) to Rs 992. While Cipla closed down a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 1,165, Glaxo closed down a tad at Rs 457.

ACC (down 5% or Rs 11 to Rs 199) and L&T (down 2% or Rs 7 to Rs 405) ended at lower levels. Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja ended with marginal losses at Rs 751 and Rs 226, respectively.

Infosys had a mixed outing, but slipped towards the end to finish down a per cent (Rs 56) at Rs 4,553. While Satyam shed 4% (Rs 12) to Rs 293, HCL Tech was down a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 199. Satyam clocked a volume of more than 58 lakh on the BSE with value at Rs 176 crore.

Bajaj slipped 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 864. Hero Honda, too, dipped 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 321. Tata Motors slipped from higher levels to finish down a rupee at Rs 363, with volumes surging more than 45.49 lakh on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 169 crore.

Hindalco at Rs 1,091 (down Rs 28 or 2%), ICICI Bank at Rs 212 (down Rs 5 or 2%), Tisco at Rs 334 (down 3% or Rs 10) and Zee at Rs 138 (down 2% or Rs 3) faltered under sustained selling pressure. More than 95.83 lakh Tisco shares changed hands on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 332 crore.

Wipro at Rs 1,312 (down 4% or Rs 58), i-flex at Rs 704 (down 7% or Rs 55), E-Serve at Rs 710 (down 7% or Rs 54), Digital at Rs 537 (down 5% or Rs 27), Mastek at Rs 217 (down 3% or Rs 7) and Mphasis at Rs 515 (down 2% or Rs 11) ended with steep losses on sustained selling pressure. Hughes, however, was up a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 415.

Corporation Bank, PNB and Canara Bank lost 7% each to Rs 225 (down Rs 17), Rs 193 (down Rs 15) and Rs 138 (down Rs 10), respectively. While J&K Bank shed 4% (Rs 12) to Rs 280, Federal Bank and UTI Bank declined 3% each to Rs 159 (down Rs 5) and Rs 78 (down Rs 3), respectively. BOI, however, gained 2% to Rs 63. Kotak Bank and BoB ended with a per cent gain each at Rs 342 (up Rs 3) and Rs 178, respectively.

IOC moved up 3% (Rs 11) to Rs 352. IBP and BPCL gained 2% each to Rs 780 (up Rs 16) and Rs 327 (up Rs 8), respectively. ONGC, however, ended with a loss of 2% (Rs 13) at Rs 598.

SAIL, on the back of a volume of more than 3.52 crore on the BSE with a value of Rs 155 crore, lost 6% (Rs 3) to Rs 42. While EIL slipped 3% (Rs 10) to Rs 359, BEL declined 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 458. Nalco and SCI, however, closed up a per cent each at Rs 131 and Rs 115, respectively.

Nicholas Piramal, which reported a net profit of Rs 47.69 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 as against Rs 26.15 crore in SQ-02, ended 2% higher (Rs 11) at Rs 445 on the BSE.