Mumbai: Stocks that had discounted actual breakout of war in the gulf region last week, crashed today pulling the SENSEX down by over 78 points at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on heavy sell-off by Indian Financial Institutions and unwinding of positions by operators.

The Unit Trust of India (UTI) was believed to be heavy sellers in top heavyweights like RIL, HLL, Infosys Tech, HPCL, Tisco and several others,

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index which had gained about 34 points during last week, reacted sharply dipping to the intra-day low at 3137.56 before ending at 3140.36 as against last Friday's close of 3218.73, netting a huge fall of 78.37 points or 2.43 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index tumbled by 34.81 points to 1553.67 from previous close of 1588.48.

Attributing sudden burst of selling to fears of a long war in the gulf, stock brokers said investors seriously viewed reports about biggest battlefield casualties suffered by the US-led forces so far in the Iraq campaign, which has raised concerns world-over that the war could be more difficult than expected.

Brokers said the market situation changed for the worst as operators resorted to selling in a bid to unwind their positions in reaction to heavy profit-booking in key counters by the largest mutual fund.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have been net buyers during last week, were said to be small buyers at the low price levels.

PTI