The Sensex opened with a positive gap of seven points at 3,655, and immediately touched the intra-day high of 3,665.

The index, however, slipped thereafter as selling commenced in PSUs, heavyweights and select auto, pharma and tech stocks. After moving in a range-bound mode in negative territory till early afternoon deals, selling intensified  and spread across-the-board - pulling the index to a low of 3,564.

The Sensex finally finished with a loss of 78 points at 3,570. The Nifty dropped 26 points to close at 1,114.

While 27 Sensex declined, three managed to garner some gains today. The traded volume and value of the index scrips were lower at 1.94 crore and Rs 548.08 crore, respectively.

Heavyweights and PSUs displayed negative trends.

HLL and ITC, on the back of sustained selling pressure, closed with steep losses at Rs 147 (down Rs 6 or 4%) and Rs 723 (down Rs 21 or 3%), respectively. Reliance, too, finished down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 336

HPCL at Rs 329 (down Rs 14 or 4%), BHEL at Rs 270 (down Rs 7 or 3%), MTNL at Rs 100 (down Rs 5 or 5%) and SBI at Rs 405 (down Rs 9 or 2%)  were weak on sustained selling pressure.

Tech pivotals also ended at lower levels. Satyam dropped 5% (Rs 9) to Rs 165. Infosys, after trading with steady gains till early afternoon deals, buckled under selling pressure thereafter and slumped 3% (Rs 107) to Rs 3,279. More than 2,80,000 Infosys shares were traded on BSE with a turnover of Rs 93 crore. HCL Tech dipped 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 155.

Pharma stocks faltered under selling pressure. Cipla exhibited weakness towards the fag-end, and tanked 5% (Rs 43) to Rs 760. Dr. Reddy's slipped a per cent (Rs 12) to Rs 1,153. While Glaxo declined 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 365, Ranbaxy closed down a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 823.

Cement and auto majors, too, were weak today. Grasim slipped below the Rs 500-mark, and lost 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 499. While L&T lost Rs 4 to Rs 270, ACC closed down a tad at Rs 174. Gujarat Ambuja, however, finished in the gainers list at Rs 211 - up Rs 3.

Telco, which reported a 258% increase in net profit at Rs 100.31 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 as against Rs 28.03 crore in Q1FY03, dropped 5% (Rs 11) to Rs 215 on profit-taking. Bajaj and Hero Honda finished with a loss of a per cent each at Rs 566 (down Rs 4) and Rs 244 (down Rs 2), respectively. .

ICICI Bank finished with a loss of 3% (Rs 5) at Rs 153. Tisco and Zee, too, finished in negative territory at Rs 191 (down Rs 7 or 3%) and Rs 109, respectively. HDFC, however, clocked 4% gains (Rs 16) to Rs 421 on buying support.

Bank stocks were divergent today. Kotak Bank registered 4% gains (Rs 7) to Rs 184. Federal Bank and IOB gained 2% to Rs 159 (up Rs 4) and Rs 28, respectively. BoB, however, lost 3% (Rs 3) to Rs 130. While Canara Bank slipped 2% to Rs 105, PNB was down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 171.

IDBI Bank rose 2% to Rs 32 after reporting a 101% increase in net profit at Rs 22.35 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 when compared with Rs 11.14 crore in Q1FY03.

Tech majors were battered today. Digital GlobalSoft, which reported a 9% increase in net profit at Rs 30.20 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 as against Rs 27.60 crore in Q1FY03, dropped 5% (Rs 22) to Rs 437. 
Wipro at Rs 884 (down Rs 33 or 3%), Mastek at Rs 195 (down Rs 5 or 3%), Hughes at Rs 263 (down Rs 8 or 3%), Mphasis BFL at Rs 327 (down Rs 8 or 2%), i-flex at Rs 1,172 (down Rs 27 or 2%) and Visual Software at Rs 143 (down Rs 7 or 5%) lost ground on selling pressure.

PSU stocks were also weak today. BPCL lost 4% (Rs 9) to Rs 250. While ONGC dipped 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 457, IOC was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 396. BEL, too, lost 2% (Rs 5) to Rs 340.

Siemens, which reported a 28% increase in net profit at Rs 15.53 crore for the third quarter ended June 30, 2003 as against Rs 12.11 crore in Q3FY02, moved up 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 357.