Mumbai: The SENSEX ended above the crucial 4000-mark for the first time since March 2001 even as domestic financial institutions resorted to widespread sell-off after a strong start at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on August 19.

The BSE barometer was well supported by smart upswings in top heavyweights HLL and RIL as also in other key counters like Grasim, ACC, HDFC and Ranbaxy.

After an initial rally that aided BSE benchmark pierce through the 4000-psychological level and rise to the intra-day high at 4026.27, the SENSEX later reacted negatively and dropped sharply as a result of heavy profit booking by local funds and ended at 4006.91 as against yesterday's close of 3977.73, netting a gain of 29.18 points or 0.73 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index, however, eased by 8.18 points to 2072.89 from previous close of 2081.07.

As anticipated, Indian Financial Institutions led by Life Insurance Corp sold off heavily in index-based counters like Tisco, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and several others including IT and Pharma stocks, brokers said.

The onslaught was more pronounced in Steel sector that had been in the limelight in the past few sessions on strong possibility of steel price hike.

However, Foreign Institutional Investors, which once again have stepped up activity making net purchases of Rs 568 crore during last week, reportedly were net buyers in select stocks.

Ruling out any major reaction at this stage, brokers said the market is in a bull grip and stocks, particularly several second-line Pharma shares, offer an attractive investment opportunity.

PTI