Mumbai: Stocks continued their downward drift for the fourth session in a row pushing Sensex lower by another 75 points at close in irregular movements on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Feb 3, 2004) on fresh sell-off by retail investors.

Starting on a better note at 5,715.46, the BSE benchmark 30-share index later fluctuated erratically in range between 5,715.46 and 5,550.17 before ending at 5,620.98 as against last Friday's (Jan 30, 2004) close of 5,695.67, a net fall of 74.69 points or 1.31 per cent.

The market witnessed buying by institutional investors whenever stock prices tended to move downwards, brokers said adding, "Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and domestic financial institutions were believed to have made selective purchases at lower price levels."

The trading session failed to show any kind of impact of the Interim Budget 2004-05 presented in the Lok Sabha as the market had already discounted this factor, brokers added.

Except for some provision for power and shipping sectors in the central plan outlay, there was nothing in the Interim Budget for the market.

Investors seemed to be willing to carry forward positions, as the Lok Sabha elections are likely to take place once the Parliament is dissolved on February 6, 2004.

The broad-based BSE-100 index dropped substantially by 90.43 points to 2,855.71 from previous close 2,946.14.

Meanwhile, industry has welcomed the Interim Budget and termed it consistent with the Government's policy of achieving eight per cent growth target and creating a business-friendly environment in the country.