Mumbai: The overnight rally was short-lived as blue-chip stocks came under heavy pounding from domestic funds and a few operators and sent the SENSEX reeling down to end 48 points lower at the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai on April 17.

The sell-off was partly fuelled by IT major Wipro's announcement of a 2.5 per cent growth in the Q4 net profit that fell significantly short of the expected five per cent growth as well as a slow down in FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) activity.

Wipro surpassed market expectations in terms of growth in revenue that was up by 32 per cent at Rs 1,237 crore but the net profit grew only by 2.5 per cent at Rs 225.4 crore during fourth quarter.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened sharply down at 3002.68 and gradually moved downwards to the intra-day low at 2971.94 before ending at 2984.50 as against yesterday's close of 3032.32, netting a fall of 47.82 points or 1.58 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 index dipped by 23.28 points to 1475.19 from previous close of 1498.47.

Commenting on selling by domestic funds, market sources said a broker's cartel took advantage of profit booking by local institutions and hammered down stocks prices.

FIIs, which had been net sellers to the tune of Rs 419 crore during last week and have turned buyers in the last couple of sessions, were believed to have made selective purchases, albeit in small quantity.

Meanwhile, The Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday dropped by 144.75 points in reaction to mixed earnings reports from several of blue-chip companies while the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up by 3.71 points.

PTI