Mumbai: Technology shares suffered a sharp setback pushing the SENSEX sharply down from the day's high to end in negative territory at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on May 21 on heavy selling pressure from operators as well as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

Speculators pressed heavy sales in IT shares after the rupee appreciated to a two-year high at Rs 46.74/75 during the session, brokers said adding that the appreciating rupee is likely to affect the net earnings of IT majors like Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, Wipro and others.

However, key old economy stocks like Grasim Ind, ACC, Castrol, HDFC, ICICI Bank, ITC, SBI and Telco scored smart gains on fresh buying by domestic institutions.

Reflecting the trend, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened moderately higher at 3068.12 and later surged up to the intra-day high at 3092.38 following an initial stocks rally.

However, it reacted sharply during later part of the session and ended at 3057.09 as against yesterday's close of 3062.92, netting a fall of 5.83 points.

The broad-based BSE-100 index edged up by 2.58 points to 1552.75 from previous close of 1550.17.

Select bank stocks continued to be in the limelight on consistent buying by local funds. Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, J&K Bank, Karnataka Bank, IDBI, Andhra Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and State Bank of Travancore recorded sharp rises. Select PSU and Multinational Pharma shares too attracted good buying interest and ended with marked gains. PTI