Mumbai: Technology shares reacted negatively to disappointing third quarter results by Satyam Computers and pushed the SENSEX down by 29 points at close on the Stock Exchange on January 23 on fresh selling by domestic funds despite consistent net purchases by foreign funds.

Satyam Computers, that have fairly good weightage in the BSE barometer, suffered a sharp setback as the company posted lower-than-expected third quarter results. The IT major registered a 2.26 per cent decline in the net profit at 116.73 crore compared to Rs 119.43 crore in the corresponding period last year, as against its projections of Rs 125-130 crore.

Heavyweights like RIL, HPCL, Dr Reddy's Lab, MTNL, Zee Telefilms and Infosys Tech also showed marked falls due to selling by the Unit Trust of India (UTI) and other local funds.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have made net investments since January 8, seemed to be net buyers in some old economy counters.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened weak at 3351.75 and gradually moved downwards to the day's low at 3324.49 before ending at 3328.18 as against yesterday's close of 3357.04, netting a fall of 28.86 points or 0.86 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index also dipped by 19.58 points to end at 1640.93 from previous close of 1660.51.

GACL, Cipla, BHEL, L&T, HLL, Nestle, SBI and Tisco showed moderate gains on buying support.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index dipped further by 124.17 points and 4.77 points last night respectively.

PTI