Mumbai: After a promising start, equities turned weak ending with widespread losses leading to a marked fall in the SENSEX in an otherwise mixed pattern of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on March 6 in the wake of late selling pressure from speculators as well as domestic funds.

Market sources said speculators and retail investors resorted to sell-off after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) directed the stock exchanges not to relax norms and allow companies to declare interim dividend before the stipulated period, a measure companies are adopting to avoid tax liability of next fiscal.

The sentiment was also affected by a slowdown by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have made heavy investments in the past three weeks.

The BSE benchmark 30-share Index opened better at 3647.09 and gradually moved downwards fluctuating in a narrow band between 3656.87 and 3585.83 before ending at 3614.44 as against March 5 close of 3641.10, a net loss of 26.66 points or 0.73 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index also eased by 3.02 points to 1764.67 from 1767.69 on March 5.

IT stocks attracted fairly good enquiries in the light of encouraging trend on Wall Street in the last three sessions. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished in the positive territory for the third successive session on March 5.

Beside the index heavyweight Infosys Technologies, IT stocks like Wipro and NIIT, recorded handsome gains on fresh purchases by foreign funds.

PTI