After remaining range-bound (positive zone) till the mid-afternoon deals, the Sensex lost ground towards closing hours on sharp selling across the board, and dropped 81 points to close at 4,258. The Nifty also lost 27 points to close at 1,360.

Heavyweights, PSUs and tech stocks ended with steep losses.

ITC at Rs 832 (down Rs 16 or 2%), HLL at Rs 186 (down Rs 6 or 3%) and Reliance at Rs 407 (down Rs 10 or 2%) slipped deep into the red on sustained selling pressure.

SBI (down Rs 8 or 2% to Rs 433), BHEL (down 2% or Rs 8 to Rs 347), HPCL (down Rs 2 to Rs 423) and MTNL (down Rs 2 to Rs 124) ended at lower levels.

HCL Tech lost ground towards the closing hours to finish with a loss of a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 195. While Infosys slumped 2% (Rs 65) to Rs 3,816, Satyam dipped nearly 3% (Rs 6) to Rs 238.

Pharma, auto and cement stocks, too, faltered under selling pressure.