Mumbai: Equities gave up early gains and even dropped sharply pushing the SENSEX to end 39 points lower in volatile activity at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on September 17 due to late sell-off by retailers as well as operators.

PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) stocks bore the brunt of selling pressure throughout and finished with sharp losses for the second consecutive day as a result of the Supreme Court's directive to get Parliament approval for privatisation of the oil majors.

Initially, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index rallied past 4300-level to the intra-day high at 4330.85 on selective purchases by investors. It later fell back sharply to end at 4235.35 as against yesterday's close of 4274.75, netting a fall of 39.40 points or 0.92 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index nose-dived by 52.13 points to 2177.57 from previous close of 2229.70.

Brokers attributed the sudden selling spree to absence of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and domestic financial institutions, which were the prime driving force behind the overnight price rally.

Sensing trouble as foreign funds slowed down activity, retail investors and operators booked profits in several blue-chip counters at the prevailing higher price levels during the fag end of the session, brokers said.

HPCL, BPCL, SCI, STC India, ONGC, IOC, BEL, Bharat Forge Dredging Corp, EIL, IBP and CCI suffered sharp setbacks.

Old economy stocks like Grasim, RIL, HLL, ACC, BSES, ITC, HDFC, L&T, Ranbaxy Lab, SBI, Tata Motor and Tisco too showed substantial losses.

PTI