Mumbai: Equities suffered another setback and in turn, extended the SENSEX's fall to second consecutive session on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on July 18 on sustained selling pressure from operators as well as local mutual funds.

Reacting to an overnight sharp fall in tech stocks on the NASDAQ on July 17 night and IT major Wipro's announcement of lower-than-market-expectation Q1 working results on July 18 morning, domestic institutions and speculators, pressed heavy sales in blue-chip counters in a bid to book profits at the prevailing higher levels, brokers said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have dramatically slowed down activity with their net investments amounting to Rs 110 crore only in the first three sessions, were believed to be sidelined.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened lower at 3,651.39 and moved irregularly in a range between 3,684.23 and 3,625.73 before ending at 3,647.58 as against July 17 close of 3,668.91, netting a fall of 21.33 points or 0.58 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 index also moved down by 15.36 points to 1,830.94 from previous close of 1,846.30.

The slow down in FII activity and Wipro's discouraging results provided operators required opportunity to lighten their holdings at the higher levels, broker added.

Wipro reported a nine percent dip on a quarter-on-quarter basis in net profit at Rs 206.1 crore and a three per cent drop in revenues at Rs 1,198.9 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2003. The company, however, posted a 43 per cent growth in net profit compared to the corresponding period last year.

PTI