Mumbai: Equities received a severe beating and pushed the SENSEX sharply down by about 43 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on April 3 following the unabated communal violence in Gujarat and rising international crude oil prices.

Reflecting the slide, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index that opened marginally lower at 3500.76, gradually moved downwards to close at 3462.99 as against April 2 close of 3505.79, netting a fall of 42.80 points or 1.22 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index dropped by 17.35 points to 1717.54 from previous close of 1737.13.

Reacting to reports that communal violence has spread to new areas in Gujarat, speculators and retail investors pressed heavy sales in several key counters on fears of political uncertainty due to the Gujarat problem.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) too have turned cautious and seemed to be engaged in small deals in view of the prevailing political situation, market sources said.

Market men seemed to be also apprehensive about the future earnings growth for IT companies and worried over the economic slow down with a fresh rise in crude prices that is likely to have adverse impact on economy.

The sentiment was partly affected by a sharp fall in the Nasdaq Composite Index by about 58 points on April 2 night.

However, select second-rung counters scored impressive gains on sizeable buying by FIIs.

PTI